Nielsen//NetRatings is reporting that MySace has grown faster than Yahoo, Google, or any of the other of the Web's top brands during the last year.

MySpace last month drew 46 million unique users, up 183 percent from 16.2 million in July of 2005. Google, by contrast, grew to 94 million users, up 23 percent from 76.1 million last year. Yahoo drew 106.2 million users, but that marked only an 8 percent increase from last year's 98.5 million.

Is MySpace doing something that others are not? No, their service is very similar to Google's and others. Did MySpace get into the video sharing arena before everyone else? No, in fact Google Video came out before them.

The real answer as to why they are a cultural phenonemon is that their service was the first that made it so easy and universal. Remember that as the MySpace lesson whether they ever capitalize on their success or not.