Mining MySpace for Data

MySpace is a gold mine of personal information willingly provided by your target audience. And it's not just for teenagers and twenty-somethings. More than half of its users are 35 and older, according to an October 2006 study by comScore Media Metrix. And, 68% are 25 and older.

MySpace has advanced search features that let you browse user profiles with detailed criteria you specify. To begin, go to MySpace, click "Browse", then "Advanced".  You can search for people using the following parameters:

• Men, women or both
• Ages 18-68
• Single, in a relationship, married or divorced
• Looking to date, start a relationship, network or make friends
• Located in any country
• Located in your choice of radius of any postal code
• Eight different ethnicities
• Six different body types
• Height
• Smokers, nonsmokers or both
• Drinkers, nondrinkers or both
• Straight, gay, bisexual or unsure
• Different education levels
• Different religions
• Income level
• People who have children or don't have children
• People who want to have children or don't want to have children

Now that you have the information, it's time to figure out what to do with it. As one example, you can find out what Web site they're likely to visit and get your link on those sites.