Welcome to Our Newsletter, Gravy Scoop

By now, we've all heard about the dangers of social networking sites such as MySpace, Xanga, Friendster, Facebook, MyYearBook and many other 'connect-and-make-friends' sites on the Internet today. If you haven't heard, this danger (outlined in recent news reports) is the proliferation of sexual predators in online chat rooms and at popular social networking sites such as the ones mentioned above.

Before you say to yourself, 'Not another lecture!''consider this.

On average, there are tens of thousands of sexual predators online at any given moment. They come in many forms and more often than not, they're hard to distinguish. The Internet is anonymous in many respects and because of this anonymity, it's hard to tell the difference between innocent folks who just want to be friends and Internet predators who have nothing but ill intent in mind.

The issue of online sexual predators has become widespread and has reached a new level of importance in recent months as lawmakers around the globe put laws in place to regulate sites such as MySpace. These regulations are designed to keep all users ' young and old ' protected from Internet predators. At SpaceGravy.com, we've dedicated an entire section of our website to the subject of Internet Safety, so in honor, here are a few tips to keep you 'safe in cyberspace'.

Rule Number 1 ' Keep your personal information to yourself.

It's simple enough. If you're thinking about posting private information such as your address or phone number, your full name or any super-specific details about yourself, don't. Even seemingly innocent information, such as the name of your high school, the name of your workplace, references to your daily routine ' even references to the names of your siblings or close friends ' could be all the information a sexual predator needs to find you and potentially harm you. There's a reason it's called 'personal' information. Take our advice and keep it that way.

Rule Number 2 ' Don't believe everything you read.

Let's use an example here, for you ladies. Say Mr. Joe Cool sends you a friend request and you can't resist but to add him because he's'well'he's hot. He says he's 18, single, and lives near you. Lucky coincidence? Maybe not. Sometimes predators pose as young, exciting, hip and happening people when in reality, they're providing false information (usually information you WANT to hear) to get close to you ' to learn as much as they can about you and finally, to potentially harm you. Keep in mind that not everyone is who they seem, so don't be too quick to add Mr. Cool as your friend even though HE'S got tons of friends, cute photos or an equally cute avatar. If you don't know someone, don't add them as your friend. It's as simple as that.

Rule Number 3 ' Watch what you post.

Here's a mistake many people make without giving it a second thought. Often, social networking users post extremely detailed information at a friend's page without really knowing who might be reading that information. Even though you may take great care in the personal information you post at your own profile, chances are you don't know who is seeing and reading your friends' profiles. Even if it's a friendly comment, think before you post. Yes, your friends absolutely, positively need to know about your awesome party this Saturday, but keep in mind the fact that you really don't know who THEIR friends are ' or who might be reading their page. Putting specific addresses of locations or phone numbers in bulletins or other public posts is risky. Send an email or an instant message instead. They get the job done just as well without the risk.

Rule Number 4 ' When in doubt, make your profile private.

Being a part of a social networking site, like MySpace or Friendster or Facebook, is all about meeting new people ' that's for sure ' and it's also about connecting with old friends in the process. But if you're wary of meeting new people or worried that no matter how careful you might be, you may end up posting too much personal information about yourself online ' for the world to see ' go ahead and make your profile private. By setting your profile to private at sites such as MySpace, only the people YOU add to your friends list will be able to see your profile. This comes in handy especially when you're perfectly fine with the 'connecting with old friends' part of this equation. By adding only the people you KNOW as your friends, and by setting your profile to private in the process, you go a long way in protecting your personal information ' and possibly yourself ' in the process.

Rule Number 5 ' No kids allowed.

MySpace, for example, possesses a policy in which people under the age of 18 aren't allowed to create a MySpace page. However, most of us know this rule gets broken ' a lot. If you're a parent, an older sibling or the friend of a young person with a MySpace profile, be sure to warn that person about the dangers of Internet predators (at the very least) and at the most, urge them to abide by the 'no one under 14' rule or take the necessary steps to remove their profile from MySpace altogether. Having fun is one thing, keeping youngsters safe is something entirely different. Friends, parents, and family members need to get involved, ask questions and take control. It's much better to be safe than sorry.

Take responsibility for your kids'and yourself.

In conclusion, social networking is fun. Bottom line. And it can continue to BE fun if people behave in an online community much like they behave in a real-world community.

For example, if you're the parent of a teenager, chances are they have a curfew. Chances are, they don't roam the streets at night without your knowledge of where they are or where they've been. Chances are, you know who their friends are and if you don't know, you find out. If you monitor your child's activity in the real world, why not monitor their online behavior too?

If you're an adult, we bet you don't run around giving random strangers your phone number or address information or details about your daily life. Chances are, you use discretion when it comes to meeting new people, taking the time to get to know someone before you trust them with your personal information. If you behave this way in the real world, why not behave this way in the virtual world too?

When it comes to teens, we think computer curfews are a great idea (a time when the computer stops and the conversations between parents and kids start). We also believe monitoring all of your teenager's online activity is a great idea. And knowing whether or not your child has a social networking profile is important ' as equally as important as knowing what kind of information they're putting ON that profile. There is plenty of software on the market today that allows parents to monitor their children's online activities. It's no different than monitoring where they are or where they've been, who their friends are, who's calling them and who they're calling, who's emailing them and who they're emailing. Pay attention and take control. Active parenting is the best gift we can give our children.

When it comes to adults, use discretion. Think before you post. Remember that if your profile is public, it's public. Virtually anyone on the Internet has access to your personal information when you create an online profile. If you wouldn't give a stranger your phone number or address or detailed personal information, don't post this information online.

Social networking doesn't have to be the Wild West. It is ' and can continue to be ' an engaging environment offering plenty of socializing benefits and lots of personal enjoyment'when people remember to focus on personal responsibility in the process.

For more information about Cyber Safety, be sure to check out the Internet Safety tips at SpaceGravy.com, entitled Gravy Safety. For layouts, backgrounds and graphic designs to decorate your personal profile, check out our design home page and select the social networking site you're interested in customizing by clicking on the "Select Profile Website" at the top of the page, to the right of the SpaceGravy logo.

Have fun and stay 'cyber safe'!

Written by Farah Abunab

Issue #2: So You're Bored at Friendster? Chances Are, You're a Boring Person.

Far be it for the folks at SpaceGravy to call names or point fingers, but if you find yourself growing increasingly bored with Friendster these days, chances are you're a boring person. There, we said it.

O.k. so maybe you're not a boring person per se, but perhaps your Friendster Profile is (there's a thought)! In that case, we suggest the following tips to spice up your Friendster life.

1. Get Some Eye Candy!

For starters, today's Friendster user is more sophisticated than ever before, and with sophistication comes a higher level of expectation. For example, gone are the days of the boring Friendster Layout or the Generic Friendster Template ' the plain white background you were 'assigned to' when you first registered your Friendster account.

In fact, if you visit virtually any Friendster Profile today, you'll notice a trend. The most popular people at Friendster, the ones with the most Friendster Friends, the hip, the hot and the happening Friendster users all have one thing in common. The hipsters are the folks whose pages are the most creative.

So you wanna be a part of the Friendster 'in crowd?' Start with the basics.

Friendster Backgrounds are the fundamental foundations upon which a Friendster Cool Page is built and they're a great place to start when you're pimpin' your page.

Here's the deal. There are so many Friendster Backgrounds choose from today, it's mind boggling. Everything from celebrities to animals to cars to movies to abstract designs, you're sure to find the 'look' you're going for with these standard elements (no matter what type of your person you are or your own particular interests in life). As always, SpaceGravy offers thousands of Friendster Page designs to choose from as well as Friendster Help and Tutorial Instructions for the technically challenged.

2. Add some Extras!

Now that you've got a cool Friendster Background in place, now it's time to add some more 'gravy' to your Friendster Page, like a Funny Friendster Comment or Friendster Cool Graphics for example.

There are tons of Friendster Extras available today. Following is just a sample of the add-ons you can post at your Friendster Profile.

Glitter Text

With the SpaceGravy Glitter Text Generator, you can create custom phrases, sayings, names or Friendster Comments with different kinds of 'glitter effects', including 'Sparkle', 'Shower', 'Paparazzi Flash Bulbs', or 'Touch It' glitter. You can post these Glitter Comments at your own Friendster page or at the pages of your Friendster Friends and you can choose to have the text scroll from left to right or remain stationary. It's up to you.

Make Your Own Hollywood Star

SpaceGravy offers the coolest Hollywood Star Generator on the Friendster market today. With a simple click of the mouse, you can create a Hollywood Star with your name featured (or whatever name you'd like to include). Then, simply copy the Friendster code and paste it at your Friendster profile. Our Hollywood Stars look like the real deal and you don't have to be a big name star or make millions of dollars a year to have your very own!

Celebrity Insults Creator

Would you like to insult your friends via a well-known celebrity? Well, here's your chance. With the SpaceGravy Celebrity Insults Creator, you can tell people to go to hell (or you can have David Chapell do it), with the click of a mouse. All you do is select your Celebrity, type in your customized message, click on the 'Generate Code' button and voila! You have your very own Celebrity Insult to post at your Friendster page.

Magic Movie Marquee

If you'd like to star in your own movie (without taking acting lessons or hiring an annoying manager), here's your chance. The SpaceGravy Magic Movie Marquee lets you create your own movie title and featuring the movie star YOU create in just seconds. Simply enter the Title of the Movie and the Movie Star's name and click the 'Generate Code' button. Then, copy the code for Friendster

Don't forget to check out other sections of our site for Friendster Extras, including Friendster Graphics, where you can find all kinds of Friendster Glitter, Friendster Pictures, Friendster Images and Friendster Graphics, including Irish Friendster Graphics, NASCAR Daytona 500 Emblems, Inspirational Friendster Graphics, Funny Friendster Comments, Friendster Chain Letters, Friendster One-Liners, Goth Graphics and Punk Graphics, Zodiac Friendster Graphics and more.

3. Pump up the Volume!

Nothing is more boring than a Friendster Page with no music, videos or multimedia applications. And today, there's really no excuse for NOT having these elements at your Friendster profile, given all the choices that are out there or how easy it is to add them.

For example, adding Music Codes for Friendster to your page is easy. All you have to do is go to Friendster, click on the 'Music' tab at the top of the page and search for your favorite artist or song. Once you've found the perfect song for your Friendster Page, simply click on the 'Add' link towards the right hand side of the music player (underneath your favorite song). You will be asked if you'd like to add that music to your Friendster Page. And if you'd like the song to automatically play every time someone logs onto your page, simply go to your Friendster profile, click on 'Edit Profile', click on the 'Song & Video on Profile' link towards the right-hand side of the page, and checkmark the box that allows the song to automatically start when a visitor logs onto your page. It's that simple.

There are also a ton of other Music for Friendster sites, Friendster Music Video Codes websites and general Friendster Videos sites out there, and in the Gravy Page section of our website, we've highlighted our favorites, with links to each, including AOL Music, iTunes, MSN Music and MTV, as well as many more.

With so many different design options available today, there's absolutely no reason for any registered Friendster user to bore other Friendster users to tears, so please stop it already. It's fun to have friends, it's fun to be popular, it's fun to be hip, hot and happening, but if viewing your page is the equivalent of watching paint dry, you'll probably never be included in the Friendster In-Crowd Category. Sorry Charlie.

Don't fret, though. With a simple flip of the 'Ctrl C', 'Ctrl V' wrist, you can transform a Friendster page from 'Yawn' to 'Wow' in minutes. Take our word for it!

Written by Farah Abunab

Issue #1: SpaceGravy Launches Friendster Design Section

So You've Got a MySpace Profile'What's Next? SpaceGravy is now 'Friendster-Friendly'!

It's about time we gave a shout out to all our friends at Friendster. Yes, we've been thinking about you too. Friendster users now have the opportunity to download backgrounds, graphics, pictures and all kinds of cool stuff to your Friendster pages. We've created a whole section at SpaceGravy dedicated to YOU!

You're excited now right? We are too!

With a bunch of holidays on the way, who can resist the chance to get festive with their pages? With all the festive feelings we have here at SpaceGravy, we can't help but keep adding to our huge selection of holiday designs. From Mother's Day to the 4th of July, you can get creative with your celebrations. Tell Mom how thankful you are for her, or show your friends some awesome fireworks' virtually of course. Now all you lucky Friendsters out there can use our designs too, so come celebrate the holidays with us!

Go Where the Pros Go

Anybody who's got a MySpace or Friendster account knows it's all about the opportunity to connect with your online friends, make new friends, find a friend ' even find classmates. And since you're not going to make many friends (or reach out to old ones) with a boring page, you've got to dress up that page with special effects. Folks, if you've got a boring page, nobody's gonna want to visit it. It's okay though, because that's what we're here for. What better way to enhance your page than with one of the fastest growing, most popular social networking design websites on the Internet. Launched just 5 months ago, our traffic is well over 100,000 visitors each month and growing.

And that means something!

Speaking of pros, let's talk about the people at Friendster. Ranked as one of the Top 20 social networking websites on the Internet today according to industry reports, it only makes sense that we've added a special section for Friendster at SpaceGravy. After all, we're pretty good at what we do here.

Let's say you're pretty new to Friendster and you don't know how to add sweet effects to your page yet. No problem! There's a first time for everything, and that's why we offer Friendster users instructions about how to get the designs from our website to their page, using HTML codes. Using this tutorial, you can add anything you can think of to your page.

Backgrounds - We've got all kinds of cool backgrounds that you can pop onto your page using our background codes. And best of all, they're FREE backgrounds. It can't get much better than that.

Glitter Graphics- A word to all our divas out there (and the boys with
style)'you can finally let your glamorous sides shine with our glitter text generator. Express yourself, and add a touch of glam and glitz while you do it.

Animated Graphics- We like exciting people here at SpaceGravy'people who think outside of the box. Why settle for a normal graphic, when you can animate it?

Be Part of the 'In' Crowd

Today's fast-paced computer culture is all about social networking. The popularity of social networking sites such as Friendster, MySpace, Xanga, BlackPlanet and FaceBook are currently at an all-time high. Everybody's got one kind or another. The question is: what's going to make YOU stand out? It's your personality and your space, so put a little gravy on it. Know what we mean?

Of course, being the innovative thinkers that we are here at SpaceGravy, we're always open to new ideas and suggestions, and we love to hear feedback from our users. That goes for you too Friendsters. When a new comment, suggestion or design idea pops into your head, feel free to share it with us. Email us at feedback@spacegravy.com to share your creativity with us. And be sure to check out our Official Friendster profile at http://www.Friendster.com/SpaceGravy and become one of our Fans! We'd love it.

Everybody's different, and that's why we have such an immense selection of goodies on our site. We want your page to be as individual as you are. With all sorts of celebrity backgrounds, cool graphics and mesmerizing effects, you'll never get bored with your page. So don't forget to release your inner creativity. We know you've got it in there somewhere, we just help to bring it out. Be the trend setter, the leader, the 'it' factor when it comes to your space. Make new friends and keep the network growing without fear of embarrassment caused by a tech design tragedy. You wouldn't wanna wreck your rep now would you? We're just looking out for you here at SpaceGravy.com.

After all, it's what we do'

Written by Farah Abunab