Do you remember… Tom from MySpace?

Everybody’s first friend was the same man. Sign up to MySpace and there he already was, smiling back over his shoulder in a plain white T-shirt, in front of a whiteboard covered in scribbles. Tom.

Tom Anderson co-founded MySpace, and from its launch until early 2010 every new account was given him as its first friend, whether you’d asked or not. Most people didn’t mind a bit. He felt like the host of the party, the bloke who’d invited everyone round, and plenty of people kept him in their Top 8 out of sheer loyalty.

In 2005 News Corp bought MySpace, along with its parent company, Intermix Media, for about $580 million, and in 2009 Tom stepped down as its president. Since then he’s travelled widely and taken up landscape photography, sharing pictures from some of the most beautiful places on earth. By all accounts, he’s having a lovely time.

So wherever you are today, Tom: thanks for being our friend.