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What News Corp doesn't want you to know about MySpace

valleywag.com — About four months ago I was hired by an online publisher as a freelance journalist to write an article detailing the history and business model of MySpace.com

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  • DefenderOrights, on 10/12/2007, -91/+8Ummm....so what.
    • Motocompo, on 10/12/2007, -9/+41Tip of my hat.... Wag of my Finger!
    • Yashar, on 10/12/2007, -5/+28"You might like to try this new social networking website called Nigeria Space!"

      -Brought to you by the same people who send you those annoying wire transfer e-mails.
    • jayripley123, on 10/12/2007, -22/+3What if we already know about Myspace?
    • mcduckov, on 10/12/2007, -15/+12It took this guy months to figure out the plainly obvious? He is terrified of publishing the plainly obvious? Damn, he has GUTS to say myspace is a spam vehicle. How the hell did he uncover this sooper sekret info! He is my newest hero.
    • artofwar420, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7MYSPACE is bad for your health.
  • HMTKSteve, on 10/12/2007, -44/+6What he said. This article is junk
  • surgen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+29Not surprising, but an interesting read none the less.
    • Portside, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13Agreed, the idea that such a massive site is the child of one man just wanting to make a cool webpage is just stupid. Myspace is exactly what it claims to be: A networking site. A site where people sell things, whether that is music, products, or themselves.
    • Evoguy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+42Myspace is such a poorly coded POS, I sure hope Tom wrote it on his own, cause if there's a whole team of professional web developers behind it... shame shame.
    • sniper6121, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10One thing the article should have mentioned is that when users delete their account or if myspace deletes their account the accounts are still stored and never removed. That is one reason they have more than 100 million users they just play with the numbers. Not to mention all the fake celebrity profiles and multiple accounts users create.
    • tdave365, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5It's not how many users delete their account -- who deletes an account anymore? The better and more incriminating number would be that of those who abandon their accounts.

      All in all the article was disappointing to me. I thought it had some dirt like maybe News Corp deliberately and covertly planted "MySpace is Dangerous to Kids" stories in order to raise its overall profile and scrape in all the traffic cream that results.

      In general MySpace is completely redundant to the inherent features of the web itself. Why someone sees god in setting up a MySpace profile and linking to friends, but not in setting up a common home page where the freedom and reach to do that and more are much greater, is beyond me.

      I've seen this before - take something free about the Internet, repackage it as an exclusive service (e.g., require folks to log in to some control panel), and people go nuts for it.
    • SanityInAnarchy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Except MySpace is certainly not the only way to get a free personal web page. It is, however, one of the few that can make your personal web page suck so much.

      Tripod, Angelfire, Geocities, and Freewebs, congratulations, you are no longer the ghetto of the Internet. MySpace has taken your place as the absolute worst.
  • bigdaddyk, on 10/12/2007, -23/+4Oh n0es teh newscorp!
    • dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -12/+16"Oh n0es teh newscorp!"

      Okay, News Corp. flunky, nobody really talks like that, so you're not fooling anybody in your quest to geurilla market digg, nor are you swaying any of us. Go away.
  • mandarin, on 10/12/2007, -18/+13I hate that site. Facebook too.
  • lsdeath, on 10/12/2007, -11/+14I have to agree. Who cares. No ***** its all about the ads. Isn't that the whole web 2.0 business model?
    • typo180, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I think the lies were more the focus than the ads
    • exsst, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I found out from the article that Tom did not create it, and that it's a direct competitor to freindstar (primarily for its purpouse).

      Oh and, if you use ad-block for firefox, you can litrally remove every single ad.. It's fcuking great to be honest.. I browse myspace without all the sh*t!
    • jcembree, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5There are ads on myspace? [turns off adblock] [eyes open wide]
    • elastikos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@exsst

      Even with adblock on, any browsing on that site and you're wading though *****.
  • mdrchobert, on 10/12/2007, -11/+5more info:

    http://virtualmagic.blogspot.com/2006/09/myspace.html
  • floppyparty, on 10/12/2007, -16/+6I like the unbiased approach in this article, lol.
  • penguinsattackk, on 10/12/2007, -13/+8Still interesting that Tom did not create mySpace
    • vegasmacguy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+16That's it... Tom, You're Off My Friends List!
  • dbug, on 10/12/2007, -19/+19People still use myspace?
    • lakawak, on 10/12/2007, -12/+19I cannot believe that people STILL think they are being clever when they post "People still use XXXXX" for every article posted about things like MySpace, Internet Explorer, etc.

      EVERY ***** time. It wasn't funny the first time, The 682,453rd time it is just pathetic.

      Yes, people use MySpace. Far more people use MySpace in an hour than use Digg in a MONTH. Far more people use it than ANYTHING you will ever create in your worthless life.
    • Giever, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8If anything, his life has more worth because he _didn't_ create myspace.
    • dbug, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2People still uselessly rant about other peoples comments?
  • MobbyG, on 10/12/2007, -3/+25The one positive thing about MySpace though, you only need one line in your iptables to to make it go away. :)
  • rtoo, on 10/12/2007, -8/+16myspace is fukn weak. i'll digg any article that slams it or exposes it for what it is... garbage.
    • exsst, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10It is sh*t I admit, but the amount of people on it has made it cool.. Yes, the coding is diabolical and I don't LIKE using it.. I like contacting my old friends.
  • petong, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1I think bebo.com is waay better anyway.
  • hhcv, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Funny thing is, I don't really think they have a business model. More of a 'let's see where this takes us in the future'.. Maybe more of a gambling model. In any case, I'm sure that more advertising space, etc will turn it from ourspace to theirspace.

    Now... Imagine if you could choose (on your page) who you wanted to serve your ads. News Corp would still get their cut, but the search engines would be uber competitive, and perhaps site owners could get a cut to???
  • dreampilot, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3I can't believe so many people live and breathe myspace - those are the worst pages on the internet. A narcissist's dream.

    Hopefully Web 3.0 will be something worthwhile - otherwise - the Internet has become the virtual equal of junk mail and phone sex.
    • dbug, on 10/12/2007, -9/+8stfu with your web x.0 crap you stupid sheep.
    • hosiah, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Ahem - we're at Web 2.0 currently. I already claimed 3.0 for my site 4.0+ is still up for grabsies.
  • jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6MySpace sucks. seriously, i dont see any point in it, other than for people who love posting thousands of annoying animated gifs, writing up lists of "favorite x" and sharing their music (which is highly annoying...)
    • bntphoretwunny, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3i agree. i use myspace only to keep in touch with those that i have no other real means, and i'm sure to avoid all the annoying tendancies of other users
    • exsst, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Yeah, defintley some annoying trends people do, especially their god-aweful profile pages with atleast 5 videos going at once, they must be brain-dead. But anyway, I use myspace because of the users on it.. not the website.
  • iMatt711, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2of course myspace is spam 2.0, but its done well enough that people like it
  • Drakh, on 10/12/2007, -12/+10Wow. that was probably the least damning exposé I've ever seen. Thank god we have Trent to tell us that:

    1. MySpace was advertised to increase its user base
    2. People get messages on MySpace
    3. Friend-of-all Tom is a PR hack
    4. the MySpace CEO is shady
    5. MySpace has... competition!

    So, basically, replace MySpace with "any valley company," and everything but #2 is virtually true. You've got advertising, PR, questionable CEOs, and competition... really. bfd.
    • PanteroBlanco, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3The "bfd" wasn't what he was exposing; it's the fact that they tried to get him to shut up through legal threats. If they'd ignored him, I wouldn't really consider this newsworthy, as it wouldn't be saying anything that I haven't read on SlashDiggChan plenty of times.

      For example, if a company tried to coerce a comedian from making fun of cars with oversized spoilers, I would consider it a big deal, even though I didn't care much about the subject matter.
    • Drakh, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1@PanteroBlanco:

      I agree, that's the interesting part... but that's the elephant in the room. The article didn't focus on that *nearly* as much as it ended up telling the astute readers of valleywag what they practically knew already.
    • lakawak, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Pantero..based on the way this guy writes, it is a fair bet that he is GREATLY exaggerating the "threats" he received. At no point did he going into his research in an unbiased fashion. So there is plenty of reason to beleive he may be entirely making it up. There is no way that NewsCorp would care about the meaningless ***** that this ***** idiot "uncovered".
    • lakawak, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0This guy is just ***** idiot. (And I don't mean the fact that he still thinks that "trucker hats" are still in.) He seems to want us to accept HIS definition of viral to be that there is NO advertising done at all. *****. That is not what makes a viral success.

      As for MySpace Tom? Who the ***** cares. You stupid ***** at Digg still thikn that "Do no evil" is Google's business plan" Nope. Just like Tom, it is Google's PR statement. So, if Google can fool supposed smart people like you, who the ***** cares what other companies do?

      They were a direct competitoon for Friendster? Ummmm...99.9999999999999999% of the world knew that. Thanks trucker hat boy, for uncovering that bit of surprising new!
    • SanityInAnarchy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0What's really interesting is that he was shut down for attempting to publish it, even though everyone already knows it. It really makes you wonder what he might've gotten out of an actual interview.
      [edit -- oops, Pantero beat me to it -- but lakawak, you'd be surprised how nervous and litigious companies can get when you start asking questions...]
    • breakspirit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0The guy in the trucker hat is Tom, not the guy writing the article. Also, if you don't like google, what company DO you like?
  • monergism, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3As a myspace hater, and user, I understand what makes it a nice place to live. I have access to friends of whom I would not be able to contact as they are in no other online community. I hate everything about myspace except I get to see/hear/read what my contacts are doing. Sometimes it is research. It's not a bad idea although, sadly, it does require the loss of your eyes and brain at times.

    The sad thing is that these sites require sums of cash to remain online.
  • cheekybastard, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3A case study on how bean counters and marketroids can make the internet annoying for the rest of us. How many more are going to use this as a template to get rich quick?
    • vcleniuk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I had a case of marketroids once... painful...
  • ArthurSucks, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1I thought all of the information was total public knowledge.
    • haydesigner, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@Arthursucks "I thought all of the information was total public knowledge."

      According to that logic, since most (not all) information about everything is "total public knowledge", we should all pretty much know everything then, right? Which means you can name the 11th president, the capitol of Oregon, the longest river in Kentucky, and the president of Nigeria just off the top of your very well informed head. Right?
  • gd007, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3myspace = moneyspace!
  • LADIESCREVICE, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Myspace serves a purpose, it can be pretty usefull. But this article was rather lame, especially after reading the first couple paragraphs, where there was mention of Newscorp harrassment. In the end I didn't care.
  • MrBabyMan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12Guaranteed to make absolutely no difference to MySpace's core users.
  • isayx3, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Doesn't number 3 contradict 1? It was their viral advertising that made people belive that Tom Anderson created myspace.com.
  • Bamborzled, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2This is a condensed version. The "full version" is apparently going to be released later this day.
  • Noah0504, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I think something needs to be created to kill off MySpace. I love the idea of being able to stay in touch with friends, but I'm really getting sick of the HORRIBLE design of MySpace (layout and coding included) and the advertising. Diggers unite!
    • exsst, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3there are other better sites. bebo for example
    • SanityInAnarchy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1The essential problem is that it seems like the kind of people who are addicted to MySpace are also the kind of people who like it just the way it is, horrible code included.

      That said, there are better alternatives -- almost everyone I know who has access to Facebook prefers it to MySpace. But really, the right approach to this is to just not care anymore.
  • boscorelle, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1is this at all a surprise?
    'cmon MySpace has one of the worst user interfaces ever
    it just shows that News Corp doesnt give a *****
    • mouthster, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2I'm not a defender of News Corp. , but the ***** interface was already in place before they purchased MySpace.
  • illicium, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2I like how the webdesign of that site is pretty much a 100% rip and recolor of Kotaku.
  • scorwitz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4I'm hoping he's holding onto to some piece of information that any 8 year old can't figure out for themselves.

    Also, as for the horrible design, I agree. I refuse to even look at people's pages where I can't read the text. How can otherwise intelligent people think that their new MySpace layout looks good when you can't even tell that there's a profile without highlighting the text?
  • jls8705, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3I'm shutting down my Myspace page.

    2 reasons:

    1. I'm tired of keeping up with Facebook, Xanga, and Myspace at the same time.

    2. This article helped me decide which one to kill off.
    • SelfAbortion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm sure we're all very glad to hear this.
  • JrGhoull, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0the article says its spam 2.0. well, if its spam, then its the most successful spam ever, that people (teenagers in particular) really like, want to use, and log on as often as possible, its also apparently really good for messeges and what not. i personally have an account but have basically never once used it
  • haggie, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Here's some REAL news about MySpace:

    Social networking websites are for people that can't make friends in the real world, not for helping popular people manage their real world friendships. You won't see MySpace advertising that. Just like online dating sites don't advertise that they are pairing loser dudes with ugly chicks...
    • SanityInAnarchy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Not everyone who lacks social skill is ugly. There are many reasons people might prefer to meet online, and yes, people do use MySpace to manage their real world relationships.

      It is not news that many people, probably including yourself, are ugly losers.
    • haggie, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0@SanityInAnarchy

      I must have hit a nerve there...
  • ahuxley, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0jtv has a set of interviews about myspace.
    From the fine print, history, to music and profits.

    http://www.abc.net.au/jtv/video/default.htm?clip=myspace
    http://www.abc.net.au/jtv/video/
  • Cymrubeats, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0It doesn't matter if it's spam or ads or wtfever, if people can log in, see a list of what in essence are strangers calling themselves friends, and it matters to them because their self esteem is that low, then it'll work, people can be and are that pathetic.
    • SanityInAnarchy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0So why aren't all these people on Digg or Slashdot? Both of those allow friends, Slashdot at least allows journal entries with a much better comment system than MySpace...
    • ff3j, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@Sanity

      Do you really think people like this: http://www.myspace.com/zack2085 care about anything on either Digg or Slashdot?


      Seriously...
  • inmatarian, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Nothing about this article is surprising. However, it's good news that people are starting to realize what a complete disaster the site it. I mean, the degree to which this site is awful extends into people's own social lives, potentially wrecking them. There are a lot of girls out there who sit by the computer all day, hawking their "friends" myspace accounts, only actually contacting these people to talk to them about changes their myspace account.

    These are not girls you'd like to be friends with, trust me.
  • lydgate, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Interesting article, though not particularly surprising... my friends and I have a joke that if Dante wrote the Inferno today, MySpace would be one of the circles of hell. Good info.
    • timelf123, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Hmm. "Stupidest" site run by "oncool buisness men". While they may be "uncool" they are also making a killing in advertising. Speaking of ads, just use adblock for firefox if you don't like the myspace ads.

      #1 How the hell do kids that are 15 and under have so much money?
      #2 Why the hell does myspace care if you have money? It makes money off of ads, there is no subscribtion fee or anything

      Why is myspace "dumb *****"?
      Although the coding may suck ass, and the server management isn't the best, it still is one of the most used websites on the web. It may suck in appearance, but even profiles can be radically modified. I'm not talking about simply adding a background and changing table color, I mean like a whole site from scratch, that includes myspace functionality. For an example, check out my page http://myspace.com/timelf
      To see how I did it, check out the link in the top of the screen corner
    • SelfAbortion, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@anysublime123

      Based on your spelling and writing skills, I think most people here would be surprised to learn that you are older than 10. It doesn't help you reinforce your point.
  • cuzican, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4As my younger self use to say.. "you hate them because you ain't them"... they have and will set more traffic and subscriber records then all other online sites... sure they make a lot of mistakes but they have the major core piece to the puzzle..
  • zumpiez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Did anybody using Myspace NOT know that it is basically the world's largest advertising delivery vehicle? And why is he presenting this like it's some kind of dark and terrible secret? Oh my GOD, people are making MONEY!
  • chainsawd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Somewhere in the darkest depths of the Internet, an obsessive-compulsive nerd has read this article and is now outraged. His fantasies about Tom and Myspace have been shattered and, for that, News Corp will pay.
    • royalwcheese, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I imagine this nerd to look and sound exactly like the Simpson's comic book guy.
  • Khaos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1at least this has hit digg so people will know the truth, now even if the big corps try and stop his story from getting printed it won't matter
  • Catchpen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Wow I think almost every comment here has several thumbs down. Including mine I'm sure
  • beanoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0There is nothing wrong with the idea of myspace but the business behind it will always be corrupt, billions of dollars and morality dont mix.

    And these days schools have cottened on to the idea of myspace and are blocking it so you need sites like http://www.proxieslist.net and there about money in the end too.
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