With a little help from my friends: Self-interested and prosocial behavior on MySpace Music

In this article, we explore the dynamics of prosocial and self-interested behavior among musicians on MySpace Music. MySpace Music is an important platform for social interactions and at the same time provides musicians with the opportunity for significant profit. We argue that these forces can be in tension with each other, encouraging musicians to make strategic choices about using MySpace to promote their own or others’ rewards. We look for evidence of self-interested and prosocial “friending” strategies in the social network created by Top Friends links. We find strong evidence that individual preferences for prosocial and self-interested behavior influence friending strategies. Furthermore, our data illustrate a robust relationship between increased prominence and increased attention to others’ rewards. These results shed light on how musicians manage their interactions in complex online environments and extend research on social values by demonstrating consistent preferences for prosocial or self-interested behavior in a multifaceted online setting.