So what actually happened to Myspace Tom? For many of us, Tom's over-the-shoulder smile ushered in the early days of social media.
Automatically included in every user's "Top 8," Tom, co-founder of Myspace, was our first friend on the pre-Facebook social network. The former computer hacker turned tech company president grew the company from modest beginnings in 2003 to the most visited website in the world, surpassing search behemoth Google in June of 2006.
Eventually, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook would streamline Myspace's user interface and overtake the OG network in April of 2008. Anderson would go on to leave the company in 2009. And by 2010, his grinning face was removed as the default friend in user's Top 8, replaced by a profile called "Today on Myspace" or "T.O.M."
For most, the world moved on. We got used to modern Facebook life without the barbaric practice of ranking your best friends, or the incessant Web 1.0-style-spam clogging our feeds. We became masters of the status update and learned how to flirt-by-poke. We joined groups, changed out profile pictures, and listed our favorite bands.
But what happened to Myspace Tom?
By his own description, the "former 1st friend" is enjoying "being retired." "Phototaking has been my hobby for 4 years," Anderson writes on his personal Instagram (where he still uses that infamous lo-res profile pic).
Inspired by a trip to Burning Man, Anderson picked up digital photography quickly. “When I looked at some of the shots I got, I couldn't believe they had come from my camera. I was immediately hooked," he told Cosmo. “I like finding places that feel untouched by the modern world.”
Having spent the past six years documenting his globe-trotting lifestyle, presumably made possible by his Myspace earnings, the 47-year-old travel photographer has amassed over 633,000 followers on Instagram.
Anderson shares everything from professionally edited images that he's reworked in Photoshop to Google Pixel shots modified with Instagram's built-in editor. Recently the photographer launched stopworkingstartplaying.com where he posts musings on travel, tech, and architecture.
Check out some of Anderson's stunning photos below, and be sure to follow him on Instagram where he offers contests for getaways to remote locations.