[Sigia-l] Your take on MySpace

[Patrick Neeman]

Me and Debi have had long conversations about MySpace (and I have the  
cell phone bills to prove it ;)). I also have a unique perspective  
because my significant other did some work on MySpace early on, so I  
could watch some of what was going on from an anecdotal perspective.

(Or, many of the conversations were "Did you hear what MySpace is  
doing today?" over dinner...)

It's no mistake that they have at 13-24 audience. The founders of the  
site were heavily involved in the local music scene in Los Angeles,  
and brought a lot of those bands on to the site early on. It also  
didn't hurt that the initial group included import models to attract  
a male audience not interested in conversation. This gives music fans  
direct access to their favorite bands in a way that's been missing  
from the web since the implosion of mp3.com, and since a lot of these  
bands appealed to a younger audience, of course the fans are going to  
join and become friends with their favorite band.

Just the fact alone there is this direct access is something that is  
unparalleled among the networking sites. As a music fan myself, this  
is something that might appeal to me, and I've 2 to 3 times the age  
of a lot of the MySpace users. That explains why older groups are  
also congregating on MySpace.

MySpace actually tried some earlier promotions with larger bands  
(R.E.M. was one of their early band experiments). And for many of us  
(well, those of us that listen to music), our music tastes are formed  
during this period, because we are experimenting with who we are and  
defining our identity.

Debi put it right -- it's like a teenager's bedroom: it'll be messy,  
it'll change, it'll have posters on the way, but it will also define  
their identity. And for many teenagers, this is this first foray into  
the web, just like how many people our age experimented with  
GeoCities, the teens are making MySpace their own. And in a few  
years, there will be a new site for

MySpace isn't totally about usability just like eBay isn't totally  
about usability: it's all about the community. But with all the warts  
that MySpace has (it's buggy, it's on technology that doesn't scale  
at all [Cold Fusion[, searching on it is painful and probably  
increases their page views 25 percent alone), if gives a great deal  
of control over to the user, and has tools that create a sense of  
community that is not unlike environments very similar to them (high  
school): girls get to talk with each other, and the guys cruise the  
girls. And it's over a channel that doesn't have toll charges -- a  
virtual community.

P@

Patrick Neeman
pat at nexisinteractive.com

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