Tom Anderson, famously known as ‘Tom from MySpace,’ once the default friend on every Myspace profile, is now living a relaxed but adventurous life out of the limelight.
In the early 2000s, MySpace revolutionized social networking, enabling millions to craft online identities, connect with friends and share life updates.
Co-founded in 2003 by Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, the platform experienced meteoric success.
With substantial investments from VantagePoint and Redpoint fueling its growth, MySpace was eventually sold to News Corp in 2005 for an impressive $580 million.
Anderson retired from MySpace in 2009. By 2010, he was no longer the default friend on the platform, replaced by a profile called ‘Today On MySpace,’ or ‘T.O.M.’
These days, Anderson resides in Hawaii, where he’s fully embraced a life of leisure and exploration.
Recently spotted at Costa Mesa Country Club in Southern California, Anderson was all smiles, wearing a butterfly-patterned shirt and baseball cap while enjoying a casual outing with his dog.
Post-Myspace, Anderson has become an avid traveler and photographer, sharing images from breathtaking destinations like the Maldives and the Philippines. His love for photography, along with interests in surfing, architecture and design, shines through his social media profiles.
Recently spotted at Costa Mesa Country Club in Southern California, Tom Anderson was all smiles, wearing a butterfly-patterned shirt and baseball cap while enjoying a casual outing with his dog
Anderson, better known as MySpace Tom, is now enjoying a relaxed lifestyle far removed from the tech-world
Anderson sold MySpace to NewsCorp for $580 million in 2005 and retired in 2009
His bio on X (formerly Twitter) encapsulates his current lifestyle: ‘Enjoying the good life / New Hobbies: Surfing, Architecture-Design, Photography, Golf.’
While he maintains a relatively low profile, his occasional social media posts offer glimpses into his life, from cheeky commentary to updates on his hobbies.
In 2021, he jokingly commented on the state of social media with a playful tweet featuring a photo of then-President Donald Trump, joking about gaining a new friend on MySpace.
Financially secure, with an estimated net worth of $60 million, Anderson continues to explore opportunities beyond his MySpace legacy.
He’s reportedly dabbled in real estate and expressed excitement about a potential SpaceX investment, though details remain unverified.
Anderson’s beachfront Honolulu condo, spanning 2,492 square feet with three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms, is valued at approximately $3.7 million, according to Redfin.
For someone whose image is most associated with a grainy profile picture from MySpace, Anderson’s evolution into capturing breathtaking, National Geographic-style landscapes is a remarkable shift.
His journey into photography began at Burning Man in 2011, a festival known for its challenging, dusty environment.
Anderson co-founded MySpace in 2003 by Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, the platform experienced meteoric success
These days, Anderson resides in Hawaii, where he’s fully embraced a life of leisure and exploration. His apartment is pictured.
Despite the conditions, Anderson captured images that sparked his passion for the art.
Encouraged by his friend and mentor, photographer Trey Ratcliff, Anderson developed his skills rapidly, even describing himself as ‘kind of blown away’ by his early work in a 2012 interview with photography blog PetaPixel.
After stepping away from MySpace in 2009, Anderson explored various endeavors, including a cameo in an Adam Sandler movie and an attempt to develop a baseball team in Las Vegas.
However, his transformative experience at Burning Man 2011 marked the beginning of his photography journey.
Free from financial constraints, he dedicated himself to traveling the world, capturing landscapes from Thailand’s lantern festival in Chiang Mai to lightning storms over the Grand Canyon.
Anderson told ABC News in 2014 that his photography process combines patience and creativity.
He said he carefully waits for the perfect lighting and composition in natural settings, but he also enhances his images during post-processing.
‘The less the camera is able to capture what you’re seeing in a scene, the more editing it needs,’ Anderson said. ‘I’m not necessarily trying to represent nature exactly. I’m trying to make something beautiful like a painter would.’
Anderson said he first fell in love with photography while he was at Burning Man in 2011
A picture Anderson took while hiking on Kauai in Hawaii
Despite his success, Anderson acknowledges his shyness, particularly when it comes to photographing people.
His landscapes occasionally feature unplanned human elements, but he said portraits or photojournalism aren’t his focus.
As a key figure in shaping the Internet during the 2000s and a photographer himself, Anderson views the rise of photo-sharing apps and the democratization of photography as a positive development.
‘I think people are feeling more artistic and creative with something like Instagram that makes editing easy. That’s a good thing for sure,’ Anderson said. ‘I meet so many people that are interested in trying photography and I think any boost to one’s creative life is a boon.’
Ironically, Anderson’s Instagram handle, @myspacetom, a nod to the persona he created for himself on his platform.
When it comes to returning to the tech world, Anderson said at the time that he was open-minded but not actively interested.
‘Many people really seem to want that from me. On the one hand it’s flattering,’ Anderson said.
‘I’ll never say never, because more than anything I like the idea that anything can happen. I don’t know exactly where my life will lead. Adventure and the unknown has always been appealing to me.’
A picture taken by Anderson of Manila, Philippines
Last September, Anderson shared a previously unseen direct message exchange with late rapper Mac Miller, sent just days before his untimely death.
Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Anderson revealed the messages with the caption: ‘I never shared this anyone before… @MacMiller asked me to be in a video to be filmed Sep 7, the day he died. Remembering Mac @MacMillerMemoir who passed today in 2018.’
The screenshot showed Miller reaching out to Anderson, inviting him to make a cameo in an upcoming music video.
‘We are shooting a video on September 5-8, and if you made a cameo it would be amazing,’ Miller wrote.
Anderson replied, ‘Haha – what’s the concept?’ to which Miller explained, ‘just teleporting to a bunch of different locations, and different people are in each one.’
On September 7, 2018, at just 26, Miller died of an accidental overdose at his Los Angeles home. Miller rose to fame in 2011 with Blue Slide Park, the first independent album in over a decade to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
