American businessman Thomas Anderson is credited with helping to start the social networking platform MySpace. He was reared and born in California, USA, and has always had a fascination with technology. He joined a band as its lead singer and graduated with two degrees from the “University of California.” He co-founded the website “MySpace” with his coworker Chris DeWolfe in 2003 while both were employed as product testers. He served as both the website’s president and strategic adviser. The “Soul of the website” and “MySpace Tom” were terms used to describe Anderson. The website was first created to help fans connect with bands and music, but it quickly became well-liked by everyone and more than 100 million accounts were created. The website was sold to Rupert Murdoch’s “News Corporation” in 2005 for $580 million, with Anderson serving as the company’s president. As ‘Facebook,’ a competing social networking site, gained ground in 2008, there was a fall in ‘MySpace’ membership. News Corporation succeeded Anderson as the company’s president, and he was no longer the default buddy on MySpace. Anderson has been very busy working as a travel photographer since his early retirement.
Early Childhood & Life
On November 8, 1970, Anderson was born in Santa Monica, California. His father was a businessman. In California’s Escondido, he attended ‘San Pasqual High School’. He worked as a computer hacker in high school under the alias “Lord Flathead.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted a raid after he breached the security of “Chase Manhattan Bank,” however because he was only 14 at the time, he was not detained.
He studied at the “University of California – Berkeley,” where he earned a degree in English and Rhetoric in 1998. After that, he became the lead singer for the band “Swank.” After spending some time in Taiwan, Anderson enrolled in the University of California, Los Angeles. He earned his second degree in “Critical Film Studies” in 2000.
Career of Tom Anderson
He responded to an advertisement in 2000 while enrolled at the University of California and was hired by the digital storage business “XDrive” as a product tester and copywriter. Chris DeWolfe was a staff member of the same organization that later declared bankruptcy in 2001. Together, Anderson and DeWolfe established the direct marketing business ResponseBase. They sold this business in 2002 to Brad Greenspan’s online marketing firm, “eUniverse.”
Anderson started collaborating with some ‘eUniverse’ workers in August 2003 to launch the social networking site ‘MySpace,’ which went on to become the first well-known online marketing firm. He and DeWolfe created the first five MySpace pages. The website was developed with the intention of introducing followers to their favorite musicians and bands. On the website, users may create blogs, dynamic profiles, and publish entries.
Anderson was every new MySpace user’s first friend by default and would be allocated as such. It was initially introduced as a rival to ‘Friendster,’ a well-known website at the time that had begun deleting phony profiles. ‘MySpace’ was first introduced in January 2004 with Anderson serving as its president and DeWolfe serving as its chief executive officer.
Anderson established the internet marketing firm “Intermix Media,” which contributed significantly to the enormous popularity of “MySpace.” MySpace benefited from it and became one of the most well-known social networking sites in the US.
‘MySpace’ has less guidelines and limitations (in comparison to ‘Friendster’). It gained traction among music groups and fans. MySpace helped some relatively unknown musicians achieve breakthrough popularity by spreading their songs far more swiftly than the radio or live performances. Even well-known bands like “Nine Inch Nails” and “R.E.M.” released their first songs on this website. MySpace’s web traffic numbers briefly eclipsed those of Google, the most widely used search engine, in 2005.
‘MySpace’ and ‘Intermix Media’ were sold to Rupert Murdoch’s ‘News Corporation’ in 2005 for $580 million, and Anderson was named the organization’s president. Anderson and DeWolfe moved their corporate headquarters from Santa Monica to Fox Interactive Media Offices in Beverly Hills following the company’s acquisition by “News Corporation.”
‘MySpace’ had 106 million users in 2006, and 230K new accounts were being made per day. Parents, community organizations, and governmental organizations were concerned about the children, especially the teenagers, being exposed to potential sex predators because of the site’s rising popularity. The organization started the first national database of sexual offenders with Sentinel Tech Holdings Corporation. ‘MySpace’ continued to hold the top spot for networking websites until 2008.
MySpace kept trying to provide additional features, such as a record label and a partnership with a video-sharing website like “YouTube.” The membership of MySpace, however, dramatically decreased in 2008 as ‘Facebook’ increased its competitiveness. In 2009, it made an attempt to relaunch as a music website. (Later, in 2011, News Corporation sold “MySpace” to “Specific Media” for $35 million.)
‘News Corporation’ succeeded Anderson as the company’s president in April 2009, and starting in 2010, he was no longer the default buddy on ‘MySpace.’ In place of his name, a profile called “Today On MySpace” or “T.O.M.” was created.
He appeared in a cameo in the comedy-drama film “Funny People” in 2009.
Individual Life of Tom Anderson
Anderson has been quite active as a travel photographer since leaving his position as chief executive of “MySpace” in 2009. He travels the world and posts images to his Instagram and Twitter accounts, specializing in landscapes, from locations including Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives, Hawaii, and Singapore.
The net worth of Tom Anderson
Tom Anderson is an American businessman with a $60 million fortune. As a co-founder of the social networking site Myspace and through lucrative real estate ventures, Tom Anderson amassed a substantial fortune. He and Chris DeWolfe co-founded Myspace in 2003, and he later served as the company’s president and strategic adviser. Because everyone who joined the social network had his photo as their default friend, he rose to fame.