Apparently MySpace has jumped the shark, with the number of page hits dropping 4% in September. News Corp say it’s a normal seasonal variation. I’m skeptical of that explanation, as us old-timers know that September is when all the students go to college, jump on their fast college-provided Internet connections, and post tons of crap on the net. Of course, now we have Eternal September, but many sites still see a noticeable uptick in traffic that month.
Anyway, if MySpace is dying, it’s not a moment too soon. Why do I hate MySpace? Well, let’s see…
For starters, it’s owned by News International, Rupert Murdoch’s company, the same corporation that gives us FOX News. If there’s a corporation I’d less like to trust with my personal data, I can’t think of it.
Then there’s the design. Ye ghods, it’s like Geocities rose from the dead and shambled onto my browser window.
Then there’s the functionality. In a way, it’s genius marketing. Someone obviously sat down and put together a list of exactly the functions that would encourage self-obsessed teenage drama queens to adopt the site as quickly as possible:
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Picture of person, interests, personal data at the top, as that’s the most important thing in the world. After all, we’re marketing to the people who start chat conversations with “A/S/L?”
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A lie at the top of the page saying “<insert name here> is in your extended network” no matter who it is, to try and sucker people in.
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Under that, a section boasting how many friends the person has.
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A “top 8 friends” feature, to guarantee lots of drama.
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Lock down all the content not on the front page, so you have to sign up even to read it.
Unsurprisingly, I’ve yet to see anyone link to anything worthwhile on MySpace. It makes LiveJournal look like Granta, it’s the toilet stall wall of the Internet. “JUDY UR THE BESTEST LUV U LOL!!” “<insert band name> ROCKS!” “FRIEND ME!”
So no, I don’t have a MySpace page. I will never have a MySpace page.
Tagged: business, Internet connections, MySpace, News Corp, News International, Rupert Murdoch, vitriol
4 Responses to “MySpace jumps the shark”
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October 26th, 2006 at 18:49 -0600
For me, the greatest condemnation of MySpace is that, despite my knowing about it for quite a while, I’ve yet to have anyone point me at a single URL on the site.
I’ve not been motivated to visit its front page, either; it doesn’t really seem to be *for* anything.
October 26th, 2006 at 19:51 -0600
MySpace is indeed a horror. I made a profile a couple of years ago when everyone was but found it so user unfriendly that I did very little with it. Several people have encouraged me to be active on it, say it’s great for networking. So I’m trying. Toilet stalls are great places for advertising, you know.
October 27th, 2006 at 06:08 -0600
Jumping the shark implies it was good at one point, which is clearly incorrect. A lot of people use MySpace as a free homepage rather than a social network. Before MySpace there were a number of sites that allowed users to create their own website, but I think they all missed out by not really developing their services. They might have had basic stuff and old-fashioned like a guestbook and contact form.
MySpace cleverly offered things like a music player, video and blogging.. allowing any fool to create their own godawful homepage full of ‘cool’ interactive stuff. I have a login but no profile, and never use it, just like orkut in fact.
November 11th, 2006 at 05:25 -0700
I hate Myspace too, because most user page layouts remind me of the GIF horror from the 90’s, because of the horrid speed whenever I attempt to go, because it was not the first website(or popular) of it’s kind but instead took the idea and somehow(because of CNN and crazy members) was able to achieve popularity, and the list could go on forever.
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