Recently I was reading a very interesting article entitled “MySpace Cowboys” from Fortune that was published on CNNMoney, in which the author (Patricia Sellers) tells of the success of MySpace.com. MySpace has become one of the fastest-growing properties on the Internet and currently hosts over 100 million users, with an additional 230,000 joining every day. A year ago, MySpace passed Google in web traffic, shortly after which News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch purchased MySpace’s parent company, Intermix Media, for $580 million.

logo courtesy of MySpace

MySpace may be the new Internet phenomenon, but it is not a social phenomenon—people have been gathering into communities for millennia; this is simply the online version. MySpace.com is like the Los Angeles or New York City of online communities. And it is rife with freedom, individualism, customization, and expression. It’s one of the most ultimate forms of the democratization of media that exists. And that is why it works.

“We’re not deciding what’s cool. Our users are,” said MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe. “MySpace is all about letting people be what they want to be.”

Other online communities are also experiencing more success than ever before, such as YouTube, Flickr, and LinkedIN. New communities are popping up all the time, such as Socializr and Zebo, and others are fizzling out. Our new blog on online social networks, SocialRiots.com, closely covers the current news and the business of such social networks.

I believe that, like any industry in business, some players are here to stay, and many more will constantly be born, rise, and then fall. But if market signals are any indication, the big ones like MySpace aren’t leaving any time soon. This year MySpace has reported over $200 million in revenue, boasting such heavy-duty sponsors and advertisers as Coke, Pepsi, Proctor & Gamble, Honda, Wendy’s, etc, etc… and MySpace is just barely starting to go global, with versions in the United Kingdom and Australia currently active. Translation: the heavyweights in global business see the long-term value in online networks like MySpace and are willing to invest heavyweight money in what they offer.

As long as these online communities stay true to the tenets that brought their success—that is, freedom of expression and the vast ability for their users to customize and personalize—they will be active, thriving, and throwing their weight around the online world for a long time to come.