Yes, Myspace

I'm not sure why I haven't linked to it, but while I keep busy on the site... feel free to come and add me to your Myspace.

It's been interesting to see how some tattoo artists are utilizing the glorified guest book features of Myspace to push both their art and business. Most of these observations are obvious, but it's good to go over it anyway.

First, most are using a recent tattoo as their profile image. The image is pushed throughout the friend network and is a simple, but great idea. The key I'm seeing is to update it often. They rotate through a recent body of work and people get a powerful sample.

Second, in the area above the "Friend Space", many are loading it up with decent sized thumbnails of their work. Either they are static samples that link to bigger pictures, or people are running mini flash applications to pull off a moving slideshow. (like slide.com, or monoslideshow)

Having an area where clients, fans (once you get to that level), and friends can feel connected to you on a personal, updated level is worth every second put into it. Even if it's Myspace ugly.

Some examples:
Nikko
Markus
Robert Hernandez
Bob Tyrrell