MySpace has created your new best friend: MySpace Impact, a profile that links users to resources in order to inspire social change and civic engagement. Just add it as your friend and be plugged into political blogs, local benefits, videos of your favorite celebs speaking their socially conscious minds, latest headlines, songs from musicians dedicated to helping out, and endless information on non-profits.

The site encourages users to take advantage of MySpace’s free services and use it as a vehicle for social change. Impact provides information on how your organization can achieve a non-profit status and will assist with your organization in leveraging the MySpace platform. See the tips listed on Impact for uploading photo and videos, and for creating a personalized layout. If these don’t help, Impact’s dedicated team will help your organizations create programs and features “that engage our users in issues and campaigns relevant to them.” All political candidates, non-profits, and concerned citizens are encouraged to request a listing in the Impact directory (coming soon) and to request partnership with Impact on campaigns, events, and publicity.

MySpace Impact has also launched the MySpace Impact Awards, which features one of the six categories each month: poverty relief, international development, community building, social justice, environmentalism and health and safety. Users nominate organizations in the featured category and then vote for the winner, who is featured on the Impact Awards page and receives an award of $10,000.

On top of all this, Impact has created sister profiles through partnerships with various organizations: a collaboration with Volunteer Match has produced VolunteerSpace, which is a search engine for local volunteer opportunities. OurPlanet is Impact’s branch dedicated to the environmentally concerned and serves as a forum where users can discuss the latest environmental trends and more importantly, how to be part of the solution.

MySpace, owned by notoriously Republican News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch, is known to many as a social networking site and…as a place enabling adults to make inappropriate sexual advances towards minors. Can MySpace transform its reputation like it asks users to transform passive natures into motivated and eager minds working towards change? With the burgeoning amount of Impact supported profiles and the increasing number of “friends” they draw, it looks so. Let’s all give our new friend a pat on the back.