Logging on to MySpace and finding a friend request from McDonalds or Coors Light has many MySpacers feeling ambivalent about the growing presence of advertisers on MySpace. On the one hand, product enthusiasts finally have an outlet for their endorsements (see: Coors Light themed MySpace layouts) but on the other hand, most of us signed up for MySpace seeking interaction with people, not products.

As ingenuous it may seem to receive a friend request from a “30 year old male from Golden, Colorado,” only to discover that the invitation has actually been extended by a corporation, companies like Coors Light have taken some admirable strides towards “speaking the language” of social media. For example, Coors Light’s official MySpace profile (launched as part of its “Code Blue” campaign) cleverly imposes your MySpace profile pic onto an official “Happy Hour Supervisor” badge and semi-usefully provides a “Happy Hour Locater” widget where you can enter our zip code and find the nearest Coors Light event.

But many MySpace purists who feel a bit suffocated by the recent glut of product placement on MySpace layouts have been making continuing efforts to pare down the advertising presence on the network, starting with their own MySpace layouts. As with all workarounds on MySpace, the methods are short-lived and, occasionally grounds for account cancellation, but those compelled by rebelliousness our curiosity can be free to check out some of the most recent efforts below:

• Mike Davidson invites you to “Hack a more tasteful MySpace,” by hiding banners and removing other ads from your MySpace layout using some CSS tweaks.
• Ad slicer, provided at userscripts.org, allows you to remove ads and any residual space from the top of your MySpace layout.
• The Firefox add-on Adblock Plus allows you to block the ads from your browser only without violating MySpace’s terms. Once you install the add-on, add the list of URLs included at the end of this post to your block list.

Love it or hate it, advertisers have made their way into social media with the endorsements of MySpace, Facebook and the like. The days of an uncommercialized social network are gone, but with a couple tweaks you can selectively filter out the unwanted sales pitches. Stay tuned for more updates on MySpace layout developments.

Block list for Adblock Plus:

• http://clicktorrent.info/phpAdsNew/*
• http://banners.ebay.com/*
• http://*.googlesyndication.com/*
• http://*.2mdn.net/*
• http://themis.geocities.yahoo.com/*
• http://geocities.yahoo.com/get_ad.php*
• http://www.google.com/images/promo*
• http://*.valencemedia.com/*
• http://*.bullz-eye.com/*
• http://*.yieldmanager.com/iframe*
• http://*.atdmt.com/*
• http://*.cpxinteractive.com/*
• http://*.usacasino.com/*
• http://*.adintensity.com/*
• http://*.yieldmanager.com/*
• http://*.firstadsolution.com/*
• http://*.fmpub.net/*
• http://*.burstnet.com/*
• http://*.streamray.com/*
• http://us.ebayobjects.com/1ai/*
• http://*.amateurmatch.com/pic*
• http://*.datinggold.com/*
• http://ads.amateurmatch.com/iframe*
• http://62.212.84.25/*
• http://de*.myspace.com/*
• http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/Ads/*
• http://mads.zdnet.com/m*
• http://*.revsci.*
• http://*.advertising.com/*
• http://*.casalemedia.com/*
• http://*.trafficmp.com/*
• http://*.zanox.com/*
• http://banners.netcraft.com/ads/*
• http://mm.chitika.net/*
• http://*.kontera.com/*
• http://iframe.adultfriendfinder.com/*
• http://*.isohunt.com/banners*
• http://*.overture.com/*
• http://isohunt.com/js/iframe*
• http://*.isohunt.com/banners/*
• http://*.adultfriendfinder.com/*
• http://*.eyewonder.com/*
• http://*.tracking101.com/*
• http://*.torrentsearchx.com/*
• http://*.finestresults.com/*
• http://*.clicksor.com/*
• http://*.crispads.com/*
• https://*.falkag.net/*
• http://*.doubleclick.net/*
• http://*.bluestreak.com/*
• http://x.myspace.com/images/blog/blogLogo.gif
• http://*.myspace.com/html.ng/*&position=banner*
• http://*.targetpoint.com/*