Gadgets Blog » MySpace

Fame in the world of the Internet can come quickly, burn brightly and fade back into obscurity in a matter of seconds. With the emergence of online culture, memes and other must-see images and videos have the potential to spread like wildfire across the Web, passed through social networks on and off the Internet. The same could very well be said for Internet success. If the dot-com bust of the late 1990s taught us anything, it’s that a company has to be quick to adapt to changing expectations and demands in order to stay relevant for long.

Such a phenomenon explains the dramatic rise and fall of MySpace. Before the leviathan that is currently Facebook, MySpace seemed to be the Internet darling of the 2000s. With millions of users picking up pages, only to abandon the site in favor of the more streamlined world of Twitter and Facebook, the Web site is currently home to countless abandoned profiles. This week, for the first time in a long while, MySpace redesigned its template altogether, an announcement that didn’t drastically change the world in the way it once might have.

The focus this time around? Music and other media.

The world of the indie rock star has become a lot larger here in the 21st century. In a previous generation, a musician had to rely on slogging all over the country and playing shows to small crowds of people in the hopes of distributing a record and establishing fans. The Internet, obviously, has changed all that. Instead of touring, artists can interact with their fans completely online, taking their music to the masses. A number of Web sites have attempted to do this over the last several years, including (now defunct) Mperia, PureVolume and MySpace. None of them compare to Bandcamp.

Bandcamp is a music Web site designed for musicians and not for IT professionals. With its simplistic and sleek interface, uploading information to the site is an utter breeze. I gave the Web site a spin for my band’s latest record, having been told by the Internet what a smooth and easy-to-use venture it would be. I was not disappointed. After a simple registration process, Bandcamp immediately prompts the user to begin uploading music. The idea behind this is quite simple: quickly beam up a high-quality copy of the song you’d like, and the user can download at whatever bit rate they want.

How is it so easy for people to disclose information online? When I was younger, I had no problems sharing photos, personal information, and gossip on my MySpace page. Now, I’ve deleted my MySpace, pulled a lot of personal details from the webosphere, and I do my best to regulate what ends up online. I have a facebook with about 900 friends, but I rarely use it. I’ll share a few photos and post on a wall or two every couple of weeks, but ultimately, no matter what I do, I’m well aware that someone else is watching.

The New York Times published an article discussing some new statistical research with online data mining. Certain tools have been developed to monitor patterns of behavior to predict personality traits. Imagine this scenario: an employer can predict what you will do based on a detailed record of what you have done online. Ack.

It’ s a bit ridiculous to think that the concept of social networking is so new, as its become difficult to imagine the Internet without it. Today, we celebrate a very special day, the sixth birthday of one of the most important websites on the Internet. Facebook has grown from a small niche into an international sensation, with over 350 million people using the site to network with the people around them. Six years is a long time, especially for the Internet, and Facebook’s every-changing identity means that its likely here to stay. For today’s article, we’ll look at some of the things Facebook has gotten right to reach this point in its lifetime, and what it can do to continue to be a mainstay.

1) Put people into networks.
This was, in many regards, the demise of a forerunner of Facebook, that place for friends known as Myspace. Without networks, indicating where people where from or what school they attend, it became easy for random people to find you and request to be your friend. This contributed to the ridiculous amount of spamming that occurred on Myspace, as it became common for people to add requested friends without much consideration for who they were. This was largely because of item #2.

2) Make people use their real names.
In addition to keeping out RiDicuLOUs PuNCTuatION!1, this also greatly reduced the number of scenester teenagers on Facebook. While I can understand wanting to put a witty phrase instead of your actual name, this decision made Facebook seem more professional and made it much easier to find people.