MySpace: A Place for Gutter Punk Friends

Bazillionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch and non-Tom MySpace cofounder Chris DeWolfe announced plans to launch the MySpace developer platform at the O’Reilly/CMP Web 2.0 Summit. Similar to Facebook, MySpace will soon allow the notion of different types of friends (family, friends, business contacts, etc) thereby limiting profile info distribution and creating privacy settings for viewers. As well, similar to Facebook, the applications will allow for ad-based revenue generation, increased in-site promotion and widgets. The blogosphere is abuzz, but what exactly makes this newsworthy given that Facebook already did this in May?

MY EDUCATED GUESS
According to PhD student Danah Boyd’s article, “Viewing American class divisions in MySpace and Facebook”, the difference between MySpace and Facebook is class. Surprisingly this has nothing to do with MySpace’s fugly pimped profiles or booty shaking videos. It is all about the fact that Facebook was originally released only to College and University students.

WHAT KIND OF APPLICATIONS APPLY?
Imagine having your crystal meth pimp bite your friend’s zombie stripper? Imagine an application that turns every bulletin into a Montel Williams-ism? Imagine friend lending money to your high school boyfriend for pull tabs at the peeler bar? Yes my friend, you can have it all – class, style, and more animated gifs than a Paris Hilton fan club. Welcome to MySpace – The Ugly is You.

( Add your comments )

Recent Entries:
· The Rebirth of Hip-Hop? Right...
· Cloud Computing: The Buzz and Blur
· Spore: Inner Feelings from Outer Space

[ READER COMMENTS ]

(Note: separate multiple email addresses with commas)

MySpace: A Place for Gutter Punk Friends

Add your comments...

We kindly ask that you keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Abusive or inappropriate comments or comments that are specifically promotional in nature may be removed.