| |
|
|
|
|
Myspace or Yours?
where_ur_at : step-on
magazine > articles
> myspace or yours?
Did the person who invented
the acronym ROFL, ever actually roll on the
floor laughing? Do people actually laugh out
loud every time they type LOL? As for the person
who types CSL, well if they actually can't stop
laughing, they frankly need professional help.
Myspace or Yours?
Two years ago, MySpace was bought by News Corp
for $580 million. At the time it had 20 million
members and it seemed ambitious to think the
site could ever repay such a price tag, but
Rupert Murdoch knew what he was doing, and still
does. Having grown to over 200 million active
members, and with Google paying $900 million
to advertise on the site, the price tag seemed
more than reasonable. It was only with Murdoch's
media power that the site could have grown in
the manner it did. At one point I think the
word "myspace" was said over 40 times
in one day on Radio 1, and we all know once
those guys get hold of something, it's everywhere.
It's still difficult to say how much of the
growth was organic and how much was down to
behind the scenes business deals.
People think Myspace is now in decline, but
as users in the UK and USA begin to tire of
it or migrate to other sites, users in China
and India are only just getting started. These
two countries have a combined population of
over 2 billion people. That's a lot of potential
"spacers", and Murdoch's eyes are
showing the dollar signs. Of course after China
and India there is always the African market
to break into, and while getting supplies of
clean water, stopping the drug trade, or combating
the aids epidemic don't seem high priority for
western investors, broadband is, and the majority
of Africa looks set to go high speed within
the next few years.
On or off?
Any place where people go, whether it be a holiday
destination, a trendy bar, or fancy restaurant,
always has a popularity life span, and social
networking sites suffer the same fate. The Artic
Monkeys and Lilly Allen can now sell records
without it, nobody has managed to make friends
with Kevin Bacon, and you went on a date with
KrissyXXX and she turned out to be more like
KrissyXXL, but as saturation point approached
for one site, along came another, in the form
of, wait for it....Facebook! But while Myspace
was about finding new music and chatting to
people you don't know, Facebook seems to be
about telling everyone the music you already
listen to, and chatting to/spying on people
you already know. It's can be amusing at times...the
"drunken text message appreciation society
group" had me chuckling to myself (although
my no means laughing out loud), and the "stop
teenage pregnancies, bring back fingering"
could have a valid point that perhaps Parliament
should listen to. Facebook users think myspace
is over, Myspace users think Facebook is shit,
Faceparty thinks Facebook ripped off their name,
and I've not even mentioned Bebo. The sad thing
is that there really is enough demand for all
of them to thrive. People just dig sitting in
front of their computers.
Social or Anti-social?
The average Londoner apparently spends two hours
a day on social networking sites. These people
will happily send a message, make friends, or
even "poke" people they barely know,
but try to strike up a conversation with these
very same people on a bus or on the tube, and
they will blank you as if you are talking a
different language. Their online enthusiasm
for jokes and small talk doesn't seem to extend
into real life. Actual interaction with human
beings seems to be increasingly challenging.
How social is that? Is all this technology progression
or regression? Speaking at a recent conference
in San Francisco, Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg
described talking on the telephone or meeting
up with your friends in person as "inefficient",
and suggested that just being friends on Facebook
is a far better method to get value from your
relationships. This concept is nothing short
of disturbing.
Tell the World.
Social networking sites encourage us all to
tell the world about ourselves; what films and
music we like, what films and music we hate,
hell, what we did last Wednesday. Nevermind
identity theft, this is the perfect medium for
brands and indeed governments to find out exactly
what makes people tick. We are laying ourselves
out for exploitation, and we deserve everything
we get. It's not just on the internet this is
happening. While the TV shows and pop culture
of the 80's encouraged us to be independent
and inspired our rebellious nature, modern TV
encourages us to, well, show off and try to
be famous, while again lapping up branding from
every angle, and modern pop music, well it's
all about bling. Where is the resistance? I
say bring back the punk era.
Beginning or the End?
Everything like this goes in cycles and perhaps
the real decline of social networking is around
the corner. It may just take a while for that
corner to come. Heaven forbid without Myspace
we may have to go out to bars to discover new
bands, without Facebook we might have to meet
up face to face, or perhaps read a real book.
I'm sure before these two die out another site
will come along for us to all get obsessed about.
Alternatively, we could all get a life.
Editorial: Andrew Winter
    
Warning: mysql_connect() [ function.mysql-connect]: Access denied for user 'step-on_newest29'@'dns0.namehog.net' (using password: YES) in /home/step-on/public_html/comments/comments.php on line 44
Warning: mysql_select_db(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/step-on/public_html/comments/comments.php on line 45
Warning: mysql_query(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL-Link resource in /home/step-on/public_html/comments/comments.php on line 308
Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/step-on/public_html/comments/comments.php on line 312
Make a Comment...
Please keep comments relevant. Innappropriate comments will be deleted.
No comments yet. Be the first...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
