There is a website that most teens, especially those in the United States, are intimately familiar with. MySpace has become a brand name, a trademark if you will, of networking. It is how friends come together and keep track of one another. In recent years it has come under speculation as to whether or not it is shaping the world's population.

Is it something harmful from which predators can stalk their prey? Or is MySpace simply a meeting ground for people to connect with others from all over the world? It is relatively young but it has grown tremendously in the past few years.

More and more people are discovering the truth out for themselves. In this article we will discuss the basics of this website and how you can make your own decisions on its validity.

When was MySpace created?

For those MySpacers that have been on a while it is hard to fathom that it has only been available since August of 2003. Before that social networking sites were very limited and most required some form of payment. It seems as if this site has been around forever but it is a relatively new way to communicate.

Do you have to pay to be a member of MySpace?

There was talk at one time of making members pay for access to the website. Other websites were making their members pay but Brad Greenspan did not want a website like the others. MySpace's revenue is generated through their partners and their affiliate programs. Members never have to pay a single cent.

It was this attention to how the public would feel that helped propel MySpace into becoming the number one social networking site of its time. In 2006 the site partnered up with the world's number one search engine Google. They signed a $900 million dollar deal that has since lined both companies/websites pockets.

Do you have to be a certain age to have a profile on MySpace?

Yes, you do have to be a certain age in order to have a MySpace account. You have to be at least fourteen. Unfortunately that rule is not strictly enforced and many young people lie about their ages in order to have an account. This has become an issue of great debate as more young men and women are being stalked online from predators.

It is important as an adult and parent to carefully monitor your child's web surfing habits. If you think that they have a MySpace account and they are under fourteen, you need to have it removed. If they are over fourteen you can still monitor their online activities.

Some parents may feel that this is spying on their children but protecting a child should be the number one priority. You may not approve of all of their friends online but at least you can make sure that they are safe and not giving out any personal information to strangers.

How can I upload pictures to my MySpace profile?

Let's take this step by step. The first thing you are going to do is login to your account. Next you will go to the Profile tab at the top of the screen. It will open a drop down box. From there you will want to select My Photos.

Once that screen loads you will see a red link that says "Upload Photos" near the top left of the screen. Once you click on that red link it will take you to a page that lets you upload your photos. There is one catch.

You can only upload a certain size picture. There is a maximum kilobyte that is allowed. You also cannot upload provocative or nude pictures.