Did MySpace founder Tom Anderson lie about his age?
Posted on 05. Nov, 2007 by kchristieh in parenting, technical
For years, Tom Anderson has said he was 27 when he founded MySpace. It looks like he was rounding down.
According to public documents obtained by NEWSWEEK—including professional license information, voter registration and utility and telephone service applications—Anderson is five years older than he claims. His online profile currently lists his age as 32, but it appears he was actually born on Nov. 8, 1970, meaning he’ll turn 37 next week, not 33.
Like every new MySpace user, Tom was my first “friend.” In fact, since I don’t use my MySpace account, Tom was my only friend. I never contacted him, however, as I didn’t personally know him, I’m happily married, and he was over a decade younger. It turns out he’s not so much younger than me after all! I just checked, and Tom’s no longer my friend. Maybe he decided to stick to people he truly knows after all.
Perhaps Tom understated his age because it looks a lot more hip to start an internet company in one’s 20′s than in one’s 30′s. When I worked at eToys, I was the grande dame in my mid-30′s. Almost all of my colleagues were a decade younger, and hardly any were parents like I was. This happens in other industries, too: I know a model who lied about her age so that she’d keep getting job offers.
Still, rules are rules, and MySpace states that
MySpace will delete users whom we find to be younger than 14, or those misrepresenting their age.
I wonder what they’re going to do about Tom?
Click here to see my listing of MySpace and Facebook safety tips, as well as a listing of relevant articles on the topic. And many thanks to Marcos for tipping me off to Tom’s faux age!
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Great post… aren’t you lucky to have had him as your only friend…