The MySpace Economy

Tens of millions of people show up regularly at MySpace, News Corp.’s suddenly popular virtual hangout. That’s good news for News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch, who raised eyebrows by shelling out $580 million for the website last summer. But it’s also an opportunity for ambitious entrepreneurs who have figured out how to make money by catering to the site’s hordes of visitors.

Like mega-sites eBay and Google before it, MySpace is creating its own economic ecosystem, populated by small businesses that do everything from helping users decorate their profiles to creating tools that let advertisers target MySpace users. (Wired)