Archive for 'MySpace Opinion'

iPhone and MySpace

We already know that Cingular loves MySpace and it's abundance of youthful slash trendy users(Yes, I spelled slash for a reason, hardy har -David), so what can we expect in the immediate future? My guess it will have something to do with Apple's new product about to launch, the iPhone.

The upcoming Apple iPhone oozes trendiness and web 2.0edness, not to mention geeky sex appeal. I'll be hard pressed to jump on the bandwagon, but I bet Cingular will release some spiffy features for iPhone MySpace users. Why shouldn't they, overloaded with iPhone accessories peeps will be looking for their favorite interwebs integration.

Christ, tell me you don't want one. Greasy palms need not apply.

The MySpace Mouth

According to the news, MySpace is a haven for sexual predators, horny teens, garage bands, and spam artists. My question is, why are we allowing them to steal the spotlight? I personally love my MySpace pages, friends, correspondences, and real friends it allows me to keep in touch with. I'm done with the negative press!

I hope to talk a lot more about the 'positive' side of MySpace and the internet social networks in general. Hell, I want to meet and talk with everyone I can, I may even take Spanish lessons to bridge the gap. After all, German is just too hard and I've already got a little Spaniard in me.

MySpace Search

What do you search for? A game many nerds, like myself, play is to see what the most searched term is for any given amount of time. For example, there are charts available which show you how often 'Poker', 'sex', or 'MySpace' is searched for and become a topic of discussion.

This week the search term 'MySpace' was the number 1 searched word on Lycos. Big deal? Not really, but it shows you how popular Paris Hilton is, considering she was the 3rd most searched phrase...just after Pamela Anderson. mmmm, such a tasty culmination of search keywords.

MySpace DayCare

In relation to MySpace receiving countless legal threats, it appears one lawyer is above the rest...ignorant. Said lawyer says that there is no difference between MySpace and a daycare center! (what, what, what? -Kyle's Mom)

Let's skip right past the obvious points that there have been sexual predators since the beginning of time, they don't need no stinking Internet to find victims, and if your son or daughter is out in parts unknown meeting up with complete strangers, go look in the mirror to see who's primarily responsible.

The last part about 'look in the mirror to see who's primarily responsible.' is exactly the way I feel. Parents need to start taking responsibility for their actions and quit blaming others...come on, who's the adult?

In the same breath I commend MySpace on taking actions to prevent such atrocities, but they should not be held responsible.

Responsible MySpace-ers

Generally speaking, the majority of MySpace users are comprised of teenagers, known for whimsical ideas and lack of responsibility. However, it appears that a generalizing in such a manner is incorrect, quite the opposite actually.

A new study has found that the majority of teenage MySpace users are responsible. Being responsible online can mean many different things, but the study outlines a few important factors. For starters 91% of the teenage profiles studied did not list their full real names. This is very important to protect against online predators and other phishing attempts.

The downside, it looks like 5% of the profiles showed the under-age user in a bikini and/or underwear. Although not necessarily explicit, this is not a responsible action to take where your profile is openly available to anyone with an internet connection.

"We saw the media reports claiming that millions of kids were at risk on MySpace, but there were no definitive studies to back up the claims," Patchin said.

Put a cork in that assumption.

Is MySpace A Google Playground?

Since Google has acquired MySpace, there have been a lot of minor changes to the networking mega-site. For example, every search has been branded with Google's logo, in some fashion or another and their renowned text ads have been varying slightly.

For example, noticed the four-ad layout as opposed to the three-mad you see on Google's search above the organic listings? Noticed the ads appearing at the bottom of search results as well?

The fact that things are changing at MySpace, in terms of Google branding, makes me wonder how far they will take their CPC model. For example, should we expect Adsense integration on a personal profile level, like Blogger?

Thanks to OASEO.com for bringing this to my attention. And Google, have fun playing around in your little big sandbox.