MySpace has more than 200 million registered users worldwide and has claimed to be the driving force behind many cultural phenomena such as Lily Allen, the Arctic Monkeys and Enter Shikari.

Also, there are a lot of 'established stars' who have started MySpace blogs in an effort to keep themselves in the public eye.

Canadian legends William Shatner and Neil Young are both on MySpace as are TV personalities Ellen Degeneres and Will Farrell along with hundreds of other celebrities.

But now with the launch of HyperTargeting, the folks at MySpace are getting serious about opening up their network to marketers and for those companies looking to hit the youth consumer demographic, this is fantastic news.

Of course advertisers have already had access to this social network. MySpace is already making good returns through display and search ads. In addition, they've dabbled in mobile advertising and plan to expand that activity in the future.

They describe the HyperTargeting service as 'a new advertising solution that enables online marketers to tap into self-expressed user information to target campaigns like never before'.

The system looks at a person's interests listed on their public profile and then classifies the user into particular interest-specific categories. Advertisers will can target categories of users based on these interests. Clever. Very clever.

How will this go down with MySpace users? That remains to be seen but it wasn't so long ago that another social network got into trouble by commercialising their membership.

Facebook, whose user profile tends towards a slightly older demographic than MySpace, launched it's Beacon service a few months ago and had to quickly withdraw it following accusations of privacy breaches.

But MySpace says they have this covered by giving users the option to participate.

Of course, it's an 'opt out' service, meaning that unless the person asks not to be targeted, they'll be on the receiving end of adverts and commercial messages. I'll be interested to see the data on how many teens and tweens actually can be bothered to click that box.

In addition, MySpace says it will not collect and store any other personal information on users, which should allay some fears.

A small group of prominent brands including Microsoft, Ford, Toyota, Proctor & Gamble, and Universal Pictures, participated in the trial of the HyperTargeting system. The tests demonstrated a 300 per cent increase in the number of click-throughs on an ad, the key Web advert success criteria.

This was put down to the precision with which the ads are targeted. Users were divided into 10 target groups including music, movies, personal finance, gaming, consumer electronics, sports, travel, auto, fashion and fitness.

MySpace HyperTargeting depends upon the technology of Strategic Data Corp. (SDC), a small company acquired by MySpace's parent company, News Corp. in early 2007.

The company is also developing a Web-based platform which will eliminate the need for a direct sales force. This approach is key to Google's success. They recently overtook ITV as the UK leader in advertising revenues.

News Corp didn't buy MySpace because they wanted to lose money; of course they are working to monatise this important property.

But it's the social aspect of networks like MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and the others that introduces significant risk. People join these networks because they are free, easy to use, and are a cool way to hang out online with friends. It's extremely hard to predict what will trigger a mass stampede. If folks believe they are being used or exploited, it will be too late to shut the barn door.

My view is that MySpace is handling this correctly and sensitively. A quick search of their own network shows only a handful of hypertargeting mentions and a general blog search shows the 'opt out' message is getting through. But still, the company needs to continue to tread carefully as do the brands that use the service.

HyperTargeting was launched last month at Internet World in London and is set for a US launch first, then it will be rolled out in the UK.

>> Sherrilynne Starkie is the managing partner of Strive Public Relations, a strategic communications consultancy serving the Isle of Man. She provides her views on business and technology each week in Tech Talk. Visit her business blog, Strive Notes for frequent updates www.strivepr.com or follow her on twitter.com/sherrilynne