Tom Anderson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tom Anderson
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Anderson in 2008
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Thomas Anderson
November 8, 1970 San Diego, California, U.S.
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| Education | University of California, Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles |
| Occupation | Internet entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-founder of Myspace |
Thomas Anderson (born November 8, 1970) is an American businessman. He is famous for helping to create Myspace, a popular social media website. He started Myspace in 2003 with his friend, Chris DeWolfe.
Tom was later the president of Myspace. He also worked as an advisor for the company. Many people know him as "Tom from Myspace" or "Myspace Tom". This is because when you made a new Myspace profile, Tom was always your very first "friend" automatically.
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Early Life and Learning
Tom Anderson's father was also a businessman. When Tom was a teenager, he went to San Pasqual High School in California. He was very good with computers. Sometimes, he would explore computer systems without permission. This led to some trouble with authorities when he was young.
After high school, Tom went to the University of California, Berkeley. He studied English and rhetoric there. For a while, he was also the lead singer in a band called Swank. After college, Tom lived in Taiwan. Later, he came back to the United States to study film at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Building a Career
In 2000, Tom worked at a company called XDrive. This company helped people store digital files online. It was here that he first met Chris DeWolfe. Tom joined XDrive to test products and write descriptions. He was still in film school and wanted to earn some extra money.
After XDrive closed in 2001, Tom and Chris started their own company. It was called ResponseBase. They later sold ResponseBase to another company named eUniverse.
Creating Myspace
In August 2003, Tom and other eUniverse employees started building Myspace. Tom helped create the first pages of the website. He wanted to make a social site that was more open. Another popular site at the time, Friendster, would sometimes block users who did not use their real names. Tom wanted Myspace to be different.
Myspace quickly became very popular. In 2005, a big media company called News Corp bought Myspace. After the sale, Tom became the president of Myspace.
Life After Myspace
After News Corp bought Myspace, Tom found that things changed. He said it took more time to get everyone to agree on new ideas. It also involved more meetings and approvals.
In April 2009, News Corp replaced Tom as president. By 2010, Tom was no longer the automatic first friend on Myspace. A new profile called "Today On MySpace" took his place.
In 2012, Tom announced he would advise a company called RocketFrog Interactive. This company made an app for Facebook. However, in an interview in 2014, Tom said he was not interested in going back to his old job. He said he likes adventure and the unknown.
Personal Life and Hobbies
Tom Anderson is still active on social media. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram. In 2011, he went to a festival called Burning Man. There, he became very interested in photography.
In a 2014 interview, Tom said a friend and photographer named Trey Ratcliff helped him learn. Tom explained that he tries to make beautiful pictures, like a painter would. He travels around the world with friends. He visits places like Thailand and Myanmar. He mostly takes pictures of landscapes.
Tom also shared in 2014 that his interests have always changed. He said if you knew him before Myspace, you might have thought he would be a philosophy teacher. If you met him before college, you might have thought he would be a musician. Tom likes to try new things and change.
