whatever is more than a mumble.

Maybe I missed the age group of bloggers. I have actually never "blogged" before, but it seems like most of the people who are two years younger than me blog on a daily to semi-daily basis.

Even though I don't blog, I know that I probably spend just as much time online doing other things to waste my time. Just when I start thinking about how much of my life I waste surfing the Web, I also realize that I am no different from everyone else that is my age. Out of my roommates and me, I think it would be safe to say that we spend more time in front of our computers than we do in front of the TV.

The Internet is no longer really something we "do," it's a way of life. Young kids that can barely read to people that are my grandparents' age are surfing the Web at least once- if not multiple- times a day. The Internet has grown to accomodate all of these ages, demographics, and psychographics. No wonder companies are turning to online advertising to promote their products! The Internet has become like a friend to us, it knows our Interests, it knows our favorite websites- heck! It even knows our name! That's why I think that we don't really find Internet advertising as intrusive as some other forms of media. Aside from pop-up ads (which will always be considered annoying), most banner and margin ads include things that we individually enjoy, and since they are at tops or sides of the pages, the ads seem to sink into more of our subconscience rather than being right in our faces. We don't think about it as much.

The thing that I think is COOL about the Internet, or Myspace, rather, is that we can have our favorite brands be our FRIENDS! By having a brand as your Myspace friend, you can receive discounts or peeks at the brand's latest trends! This is great advertising for these brands since pretty much every kid in junior high years and up seems to have a Myspace profile. Kids (myself included) get so wrapped up in their Myspace profile that they log on multiple times a day and spend countless hours personalizing it. AshleyQualls took that to her advantage by creating whateverlife. This website offers loads of Myspace page layouts and graphics, catering to teenage girls. This girl is a genius! She has gotten so many hits a day on her site that the advertising big-wigs began to notice, and now this 17-year old girl now has her business financed by major advertisers and makes a hefty $50,000-$70,000 a month paycheck! Advertisers love her, girls want to be friends with her, and I am jealous of her.