MySpace's Tom Anderson is the most popular person on the Internet (currently he has 173549379 friends). Hunched over his computer with his geeky grin for that impromptu photo moment; it's an infamous image. Tom's not an imposing guy and the photograph seems to suggest that MySpace is a one-man team, with humble Tom based in his momma's garage, just trying is darndest to keep his members happy and generally shying away from the world.

“MySpace: The Business of Spam 2.0” was published by Valleywag, and claims to have it in good knowledge that Tom was initially hired as a copy editor by his 'co-founder', Chris DeWolfe. Giving Tom the title of 'founder' and effectively making him the face of MySpace was simply a public relations exercise.

So what does Tom do for the MySpace image?
Tom gives MySpace a human side to it, a personality. Thus:

• Tom's enthusiasm to interact with users and his 'first friend status' suggest that MySpace has no hidden agenda (“Tom's so humble, I can trust him”).
• Having Tom as the 'first friend' encourages people to network (“Tom's a start, who next?”).
• People are for more likely to tolerate problems with the site (“Tom's just human!”).

If there is something that the MySpace team need to clear up, it is Tom who sends an update to let users know. He then haphazardly suggests that the reader check out the new Transformers trailer, the film that was being promoted on the MySpace login page (coincidence?). Tom is simply a facade, designed to give MySpace users a sense of comfort that MySpace isn't just a marketing monolith.

While having Tom as the poster boy works, it really only works if it's foolproof. It reminds me of an old Panado TV advertisement in which a doctor recommends Panado. My father recognised the 'doctor' to be a client of his, a fellow businessman.

Making DeWolfe the face of MySpace would have made things a lot more straightforward for MySpace, but obviously it was decided that Tom was more consumer-friendly (or photogenic).
Now, not only does the credibility of MySpace come into question, but the user can easily feel disrespected and distrustful of a project that arguably started off as a good intention.