And no wonder. According to Alexa Internet, a subsidiary company of Amazon.com that provides information on Web traffic, MySpace is the world's sixth most popular Web site and the third most popular site in the U.S.

"We did it because it's so freaking popular -- everybody's on it!" Ashley Lynch of Singley's Restaurant said.

Singley's opened downtown only a few months ago but Lynch credits their presence on MySpace with the steady growth of their business.

Singley's uses the page to advertise promotions and to provide fun information like their beer list. Some businesses even provide coupons and other incentives to entice cash-strapped young folks. And of course you can always find the usual pictures and videos, friends' lists, blogs and discussion groups common to more personal pages.
Doc Titus, owner of Razzles II, a downtown club for young teens, laughed when he was asked why they had a page.

"This has been the single most effective tool to create my business. Anything else I've tried doesn't come close. We had one promotion that we posted on our page and 900 people showed up," Titus said. "It's my target audience. They use it 98 percent of the time to communicate with each other."

Businesses from Salem Cinema to Le Shoe Boutique to the Coffee House Café all have MySpace pages.

Even Salem Public Library recently got into the act. They started their page in September and it has enabled them not only to target teens, but to connect with authors and local bands for their music programs, especially Battle of the Bands.

"It's been an interesting learning experience but I created it myself," Library Public Relations Coordinator Sonia Somerville said. "Luckily I had a couple of college interns because it was a pretty steep learning curve."

And in the interest of full disclosure, you can visit Salem Monthly's MySpace page at myspace.com/salemmonthlynewspaper.