MySpace...should libraries care?

Hello again, gentle readers--
I actually created a MySpace account a few months ago. My daughter was missing (again) and I was trying all avenues to find her. One of her friends sent me a link to her MySpace page. I sent her an email through there. She had posted to her page that very day so I knew she had some internet access. I never heard back from her via MySpace but she did eventually show up in person.

What I found on her page was very disturbing. Interestingly, after I told her I had a MySpace account and read her pages all the *disturbing* stuff magically disappeared! (Guess she cares what I think after all :-) And the *friends* and photos she had either on her page or links to her friend's pages and photos were a maze of darkness...as I interpreted them.

So, I have MySpace account but I haven't made it my own by adding any information about me. I've only received a few emails...all spam and advertisements.
I am looking forward to my exploration of the site via 27 Things but I really see use of MySpace as primarily a "teen thing." I think the kids view it that way, too. That's why when I read the links on 27 Things #9, I couldn't help but have the same gut reaction as one librarian wrote:

<<

To my mind, many kids using Myspace or similar sites would see libarians as authority figures, same as teachers or parents. They might very well not want us there. Isn't part of being a teenager developing your own space, with your peers, away from adults?>>>

I clicked the link to the Denver Public Library MySpace page and was pleasantly surprised with some good music (Switchfoot) and what looked at first glance to be a single user's page. It looked very inviting for a teen audience. Maybe it does help to have a presence in their "electronic world."

It seems to me that it's not a bad thing for KCLS to try it and see if/how it works. I wonder, though, about issues like the following:

1) Do the youth really want us in their 'space'?
2) What happens if someone writes/posts innappropriate or personal remarks/information on the library's page?
3) While touring around MySpace, it was a vision more of chaos to me and not a place of sure information nor sure identity. Good reason abounds to retaining some caution about it.
4) With MySpace's popularity has come some other sites, most notably "Facebook". What I see as chaotic on MySpace seems more streamlined at Facebook.
5) I really don't like all the ads on MySpace...especially all the flashing ads.

over and out,

kathleen