for and from the curious – web 2.0, social media and cause marketing explored

Joining the having-issues-with-myspace crowd

April 14th, 2006 | by Klaus Holzapfel |

Since you can hardly look at more than five websites without coming across the “myspace” word and after reading another story in revenews, I am starting my second attempt of critical thinking this week (Do you still need Google? having been the first one).

I happen to have some background in community websites myself. I managed MotorPride.com, a premier automotive enthusiast community for 12 months to cover the back of the founder – Kelly Perdew – who had won “The Apprentice” show. The MotorPride community is much smaller; nothing compared to myspace’s 70,000,000 million. There are a lot of striking similarities though.

Here are my main struggles with mySpace:

1. myspace is unneccessary
We have blogs. We have forums all across the web. There are plenty of other great communication channels in place.

Having everything concentrated on one platform is not healthy. Myspace takes a similar approach to the web like AOL some 10 years ago. They make their users believe that they are necessary to stay in touch, be on the web or whatever else, completely neglecting the fact that all of their functions (and more) can be provided without them.

I still can’t believe the success story of AOL. It is one of the big scams of the late 20th century to me. AOL does nothing but clutter computers, make it cumbersome to get to where you really want to be on the web and censor your email. Keep sending out your discs. Thanks, great job!

2. Trouble in getting users to upgrade to premium memberships
There is quite a discussion going on, about how myspace is going to be able to generate (more) revenue. Some people suggest adding premium features and charging for them.

We tried that with MotorPride. More webspace, premium e-mail and the likes were added. At the end the vast majority of users still want a free platform. Once users are used to get something for free it is VERY hard to take it away from them or to change their behavior.

As for myspace:
What premium service could they offer that is not available somewhere else for free already or that will be made available for free, one day after myspace starts charging for it? Image Galleries, webmail, video uploads, podcasting / vodcasting. It is all there already or will be out there soon. Thanks to Web 2.0!

Most of the myspace users are teenagers and they will be very conscious about where their (limited) $$$ go. At the end they couldn’t afford their ringtones any longer.

Unrelated thought:
Why does anybody pay $2.50 for ring tones when you can get a whole song for 99cts at iTunes? Can someone please explain that to me, since my daughter keeps that secret from me?

3. Lack of focus:
I think, myspace is trying to do too many things right for too many people. Some neat features could certainly be added but in many cases they would be specific to certain communities. They will never be able to do what an active.com does for the Sports community. In the future there will be more and more specialty community sites popping up that will be doing things better than myspace.

4. Fake ID’s
You really don’t know who you are dealing with at myspace. At some time that will have to come to sense of even the least experienced users. Every day there are more and more stories circulating the web about older guys misrepresenting themselves in order to hook up with teenagers – every parent’s nightmare!

Plus there are teenagers who have been banned from myspace by their parents and start using false identities. I prefer to know who I am dealing with. If I visit someone’s blog and they have their own domain, there is a good chance that they will be a bit more accountable than the guy next door on myspace.

And then all the Buzzagents (+Tremor, etc…): Bloggers who are getting paid to spread out the word about certain products. Where are they going first to find their audience? How about the #1 community website!

Personally, I can only take so much word of mouth a day. Yes, as Guerilla Marketers we eventually spread out the word as well. But in moderate doses please.
5. Quality content better presented elsewhere
Myspace constantly needs unique and compelling content. Why would you give your best content to mySpace? As soon as you post on there you grant them a license to use it under their name and make money of it.

The MySpace terms state:

“By posting any Content to the public areas of the Website, you hereby grant to MySpace.com the non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, publicly perform, publicly display, modify, and translate such Content on the Website.”

Thanks for the offer. I don’t think so.

6. Last but not least: Rupert Murdoch’s agenda

Rupert Murdoch is a smart guy. I consider him one of the most powerful men on earth. He controls the largest media conglomerate. He also is not shy to make use of his power. Many of his TV stations and print publications are on an agenda.

I see a clear misfit with myspace: An owner on an agenda – other than making $$$ – and a community website doesn’t sound right to me.

Many myspace users don’t really fit the profile of the Newscorp readers & viewers. Kids aren’t going to switch off their PC and watch the O’Reilly factor.

So far I haven’t heard or seen how they are going to tie the loose ends together.

Bite me on this last point. I know it is very debatable. I just see this as vulnerability. What if the community launches an massive attack on itself?

If I would be Mr. Murdoch I would sell it to the original owner who keeps suing because the claims mySpace was sold on the cheap ($580 million for those who don’t remember). Myspace almost tripled its membership since the purchase. I’d sell it back to him tomorrow and count my beans. And then add a nice community site to O’Reilly. That’s where Newscorps’ core audience should have their home.

Note:
Klaus-trashing-the-biggest-sites-on-the-web is taking a break now. I think I made enough enemies this week…

Additional reading:
Combing the shadows of myspace
MySpace Takes Responsibility, Hires Microsoft’s Child Safety “Czar”

Here is a typical take from a teenager (very well written!):
Guest blogger Liz Petow: Behind the Closed Doors of MySpace