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Before everything happened on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, Myspace launched a number of music careers, from The Arctic Monkeys to Enter Shikari.

For those of you young enough not to know what I’m talking about, all you need to know is that Myspace was the biggest social network of the early 2000s.

This means that if you were in a band between 2003 and 2015, you probably had a Myspace account, and if that’s where you stored your music, I’m sorry to tell you that your memories died back in 2019 when a server migration accidentally erased it all.

MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson was coining it back in the day and has been flying largely under the radar until a tweet just after the US Capitol was stormed responding to jokes that Donald Trump would be moving his online rants to Myspace after he was blocked on all major social media platforms.

🤔 pic.twitter.com/HHUJylI3J2

— Tom Anderson (@myspacetom) January 9, 2021

So what is he up to these days?

Tom, not Trump. We thankfully don’t have to worry too much about the former US president since he was removed from office, and no longer has access to the Gold Codes.

According to The Verge, Anderson is living his best life, thanks to a smart decision made in 2005.

Anderson sold Myspace to News Corp in 2005 for $580 million. Six years later, Myspace sold again for a hugely depreciated $35 million, prompting Rupert Murdoch to refer to the initial purchase as “A huge mistake.” In retrospect, it’s clear that Anderson cashed out at the perfect time.

In the early 2010s Facebook and Twitter obliterated most other social media platforms, Myspace included.

That said, industry analysts still reckon the downfall of Myspace was one of the biggest missed opportunities of the past decade.

It doesn’t look like Anderson is mourning any missed opportunities. Head on over to his Instagram account, and you’ll find stunning photos snapped all over the world.

Image: myspacetom / Instagram

Image: myspacetom / Instagram

While Mark Zuckerberg and other Silicon Valley execs look like they’re living the high life, Anderson doesn’t have to worry about scandals or data breaches.

Facebook is plagued by constant scandals and may have played a role in swinging the 2016 presidential election. Twitter remains one of the worst places on the internet, to the point that it might be giving its most chronic users lifelong anxiety disorders. Even a benign arena like Pinterest — a website intended for moms who want to catalog different shades of wallpaper — is dealing with an uproar over its own internal toxic culture. Nowhere is safe. If you are a social media executive in 2021, a significant portion of your job must now be spent proving that your website isn’t actively destroying people’s lives.

Anderson keeps it simple – no digs at industry giants, comments on the economy or politics, or predictions about the market.

Just sun, sea and good times.

He’s definitely winning.

[source:verge]