Myspace - how do you like your Pepsi Blue?

September 11, 2006 5:26 PM

What News Corp doesn't want you to know about myspaceis that the much of the success of myspace was due to a large successful advertising campaign and it wasn't grass roots at all. They also don't want you to know that Tom Anderson didn't really create the site and that it is more spam 2.0 than anything else. The article is written by a 19 year old web journalist called Trent Lapinski. Has everyone just been had? Does it matter? (via Digg and Valleywag)
posted by sien (92 comments total)

No, it doesn't.

Your welcome.
posted by MikeKD at 5:37 PM on September 11, 2006

It's free advertisting for myspace by fake outrage.
posted by elpapacito at 5:37 PM on September 11, 2006

No, your welcome. I insist.
posted by cortex at 5:38 PM on September 11, 2006

It took a "19 year old web journalist" to tell is MySpace is full of spam, and was created for a non-purely-altruistic purpose?

Mainstream media, watch out!
posted by Jimbob at 5:39 PM on September 11, 2006

Before I read this, I wanted nothing to do with myspace.

After reading this, I still want nothing to do with myspace.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:40 PM on September 11, 2006

And they would have goten away with it too, if it wasn't for those that pesky kid...
posted by lekvar at 5:41 PM on September 11, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

The only people this matters to is the competition, and they already knew.
posted by riotgrrl69 at 5:41 PM on September 11, 2006

I don't think I ever believed that myspace was started by some guy and somehow it reached the masses. But it doesn't change the fact that I'm addicted.

*stands*

my name is cholly.

and i'm an addict.
posted by cholly at 5:43 PM on September 11, 2006

Mainstream media, watch out!

The thing is, you really don't see much actual journalism about MySpace-- it's all Gosh, wowee, what will those crazy kids do next kind of stuf.

There are definitely a lot of myths about MySpace and it's interesting to see at least a couple of them debunked. I can't tell you how many business meetings I've been in where chit-chat is about MySpace and how the whole thing started with some cool guys going out in LA and seeing bands or sometbhing.
posted by cell divide at 5:44 PM on September 11, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

There is some more info about this at wikinews.

Part of the myspace myth is that it was created with little, if any advertising. If it turns out that the whole thing is just a new form of net advertising then the kids may leave.
posted by sien at 5:44 PM on September 11, 2006

Myspace is the biggest overhyped piece of bit-trash currently available. It does nothing to increase the useful content of the internet, and in fact goes far to increasing the static-to-noise ratio on the web. I have yet to see anything usefull or interesting on any myspace page that I couldn't have found otherwise.

*pant*

Sorry, but this shit bothers me.
posted by Parannoyed at 5:45 PM on September 11, 2006

So my only friend Tom on Myspace is fake?!?
posted by birdherder at 5:50 PM on September 11, 2006

If it turns out that the whole thing is just a new form of net advertising then the kids may leave.

The kids may leave—in fact, they almost certainly will, eventually—but it'll be for the next big thing, not because they have standards. No expose is going to change things. A newer, better, less-shitty or more newb-friendly site will come along.

Everybody uses MySpace because everybody uses MySpace. Until everybody stops using it, everybody will keep using it. Tautology as causality. Economies of scale. It's good to be the king.
posted by cortex at 5:50 PM on September 11, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Why is there such an obsession with MySpace? It's crap.

I'd be willing to be that its retch-inducing page designs are merely a ploy by ophtalmologists and big pharma to sell you more eye exams, Pepto-Bismol and headache tablets.
posted by clevershark at 5:51 PM on September 11, 2006

So? My computer, house, car and clothes aren't gassroots, either. The site makes it easy to keep in touch with some far away friends that I would communicate with less often otherwise. I really don't care if it was programmed by third-world villagers in the traditional stlye of the old ones.
posted by spaltavian at 5:53 PM on September 11, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

My car runs on gas-roots.
posted by defenestration at 5:57 PM on September 11, 2006

The kids may leave—in fact, they almost certainly will, eventually—but it'll be for the next big thing, not because they have standards.

Well-put. As for the Next Big Thing, I'm gonna start investing in Pogs.
posted by Greg Nog at 5:57 PM on September 11, 2006

fuck
posted by spaltavian at 5:58 PM on September 11, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

In a way it matters because things like Google, Yahoo, craigslist and ebay were initially started by people who wanted information and the net to be used better.

But now things on the net appear because people systematically sit down and try and get rich but who also want to appear to be like the earlier sites.

Perhaps it's just the net becoming older. And perhaps this sounds like a complaint from 1996. But - why did myspace bother coming up with a deceitful founding myth? Why not just be honest and say we came to exploit the kids like record execs have been for 50 years?
posted by sien at 6:02 PM on September 11, 2006

The kids may leave—in fact, they almost certainly will, eventually—but it'll be for the next big thing, not because they have standards.

Just like they dropped cell phones and IM when those quit being cool!
posted by idontlikewords at 6:05 PM on September 11, 2006

Also... I'm loving the grammatical loopiness the "19-year-old reporter" deploys in the second paragraph:

"Everyone and their mom have a profile up, from the fourteen-year old girl next door to Madonna."

I'll let him slide on the have/has issue, cause I'm not even sure which is right (though his sounds wrong to me). But I cannot abide the inadvertent suggestion that Madonna has a 14-year-old neighbor with a profile.
posted by idontlikewords at 6:11 PM on September 11, 2006

What if eUniverse created mefi?
posted by conch soup at 6:12 PM on September 11, 2006

None of this changes the fact that myspace looks shittier than a circa 1997 geocities webring.
posted by ninjew at 6:12 PM on September 11, 2006

No, just like they dropped Friendster, Webshots, Yahoo Search, Geocities, Tripod, and Mapquest.
posted by mrgrimm at 6:13 PM on September 11, 2006

Eh, not a very apt comparison... Certain phones are "cooler" than others. I doubt sites like MySpace will go away, but will MySpace itself be the main go-to place for most kids/teenagers for a long time to come? Maybe not.

On preview: what mrgrimm said more succinctly.
posted by Stauf at 6:14 PM on September 11, 2006

One of the comments on that page claims that myspace took-off partly due to the friendster servers not being able to keep up with the high traffic. Which is funny considering myspace is usually rather slow.
posted by bob sarabia at 6:15 PM on September 11, 2006

Yeah, idontlikewords, you've missed the point a bit. When something comes along that functionally replaces cellphones and IM, they'll wither like 8-tracks.
posted by cortex at 6:17 PM on September 11, 2006

Cellphones with inbuilt IM

I'll be rich, I tell you!
posted by djgh at 6:21 PM on September 11, 2006

Stauf and mrgrimm-- Yeah, what i was trying to say was that social networking is (most likely) not going anywhere, but of course the jury's still out on what it will look like 5 or 10 years from now.

I'd love for it to look way better than MySpace does now, but since the whole "Everybody uses MySpace because everybody uses MySpace" thing is true here even more than with cell phones and IM (where there are varying degrees of inter-network communication) I'm not necessarily too optimistic about it. =P

On preview: Again, I was not trying to suggest that things *never* wither and die when confronted with a functionally superior replacement, but only to point out that social network sites like MySpace are *not* merely a fad, but a valid service that provides a lot of people with real value.

Just trying to give "the kids" some credit where credit is due for grokking this stuff. That's all! =)
posted by idontlikewords at 6:27 PM on September 11, 2006

Everybody uses MySpace because everybody uses MySpace.

Exactly. Nobody uses myspace because they think the layouts are lovely or the features are well implemented. They use it because all their friends use it.

Myspace will be difficult to dislodge from the top dog position because everyone who would like "something like myspace" is already on myspace, and has invested a lot of time and effort into it.
posted by justkevin at 6:27 PM on September 11, 2006

I just wish they would all stop using the walkie-talkie function of their cell phones. Jesus, is that annoying.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:31 PM on September 11, 2006

I just wish they would all stop using the walkie-talkie function of their cell phones.

Amen! Now, I would love to read an article on the development and marketing of *that* trend.
posted by idontlikewords at 6:33 PM on September 11, 2006

So? My computer, house, car and clothes aren't gassroots, either. The site makes it easy to keep in touch with some far away friends that I would communicate with less often otherwise.

This is a ludicrous assertion. The internet was fucking invented to allow you to keep in touch with far away people. That's the whole goddamn design. Myspace has nothing at all to do with helping you do that. This fucking lie is the dumbest myth of all about myspace.
posted by odinsdream at 6:33 PM on September 11, 2006

Myspace is only good for stalking people and then dismembering them in your basement.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 6:37 PM on September 11, 2006

This is a ludicrous assertion. The internet was fucking invented to allow you to keep in touch with far away people. That's the whole goddamn design. Myspace has nothing at all to do with helping you do that. This fucking lie is the dumbest myth of all about myspace.

I have to disagree. Myspace definitely keeps me more in touch with my friends than without it.
posted by justkevin at 6:38 PM on September 11, 2006

Myspace has helped my band out a lot, not by adding massive amounts of strange people, but by getting in touch with promoters and letting fans know about shows. It's a lot easier and effective than an e-mail list. The massive amounts of people on there make it a great networking tool.

It's also ugly.

And fucked up all the time.
posted by eraserhed at 6:39 PM on September 11, 2006

Myspace has nothing at all to do with helping you do that.

Well it makes it a bit easier to keep in touch, no? To say nothing of meeting people you don't already know.

Not saying it couldn't be done way better, but... in a lot of ways:

Internet:VCR Timer::MySpace:Tivo
posted by idontlikewords at 6:39 PM on September 11, 2006

justkevin writes "Myspace definitely keeps me more in touch with my friends than without it"


That' scary to me. I mean, what if they took it from you ? I guess they can indeed charge you for myspace account.
posted by elpapacito at 6:40 PM on September 11, 2006

Oh dammit. That should read:

Internet:Myspace::VCR Timer:Tivo

Obviously...
posted by idontlikewords at 6:40 PM on September 11, 2006

Myspace is only good for stalking people and then dismembering them in your basement.

Myspace is fine for the stalking bit, but for dismembering people in your basement, you really want Metafilter.
posted by justkevin at 6:41 PM on September 11, 2006

One word: Facebook.
posted by WetherMan at 6:42 PM on September 11, 2006

That' scary to me. I mean, what if they took it from you?

It'd be a tiny bit less easy?
posted by Stauf at 6:43 PM on September 11, 2006

Myspace is only good for stalking people and then dismembering them in your basement.
Nonsense. MySpace may be good for stalking, but you can't beat dismembr for the basement flayings.
posted by lekvar at 6:45 PM on September 11, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

That' scary to me. I mean, what if they took it from you ? I guess they can indeed charge you for myspace account.

Well, it's certainly not an entitlement, so they could start asking people to pay. I'm perfectly willing to pay for goods and services I find useful.

But charging a monthly fee would probably be about the only way right now they could lose top dog position, so that might not be too smart for them.
posted by justkevin at 6:48 PM on September 11, 2006

One word: Facebook.

Yeah, I thought Facebook was what the kids use nowadays (or at least that's what my 22 year old co-worker told me).

God I feel old, especially since I deleted my myspace and friendster accounts 6 months ago when I got bored with them.
posted by echo0720 at 6:51 PM on September 11, 2006

Tautology as causality.

This would have sounded much neater to me if it was what I originally read, which was "Tautology is causality," but I can live with this, too.
posted by spiderwire at 6:59 PM on September 11, 2006

Myspace has nothing at all to do with helping you do that. This fucking lie is the dumbest myth of all about myspace
I actually have to disagree with that statement a bit. I don't have a myspace account, but I did check it out once and I found seven people that I used to run with in high school. Not to mention the often used phrase, "I found so and so on myspace..." that I hear from my friends all the time.
I'm not really a hater or lover of myspace, although I kind of think parents using it to spy on their kids is fucked up
posted by Holy foxy moxie batman! at 7:00 PM on September 11, 2006

Parannoyed - It does nothing to increase the useful content of the internet, and in fact goes far to increasing the static-to-noise ratio on the web.

Take a look around MySpace. Tens of thousands of local bands with digitalized media now available to whoever wants it whenever they want it. How, exactly, do you define "useful content?" Though I hate that Rupert owns it... itsn't this the populist digital utopian dream everyone wanted? Too bad it came in such an ugly package.

odinsdream - This is a ludicrous assertion. The internet was fucking invented to allow you to keep in touch with far away people. That's the whole goddamn design. Myspace has nothing at all to do with helping you do that. This fucking lie is the dumbest myth of all about myspace.

Let me follow your logic... it went something like this: "BS! The new Toyota doesn't help you get around town! THAT'S WHAT THE HIGHWAY SYSTEM WAS BUILT FOR! Stupid viral marketing campaigns..."

--

bash all you want, i don't care who created it or how ugly it is... MySpace works. It does what it was designed to do. It's essentially replaced my normal email account as a means to communicate with friends [it's much, much easier finding someone on MySpace than aquiring an email addy... which says a lot, because aquiring an email addy is easy], it's streamlined organizing social events with friends, and it's been amazing at keeping me in touch with my old social network 8000 miles away.
posted by trinarian at 7:08 PM on September 11, 2006

Please. MySpace owes its success to two simple facts:

1) Friendster stopped scaling (read: crashed massively)
2) American girls _really_ like customizing their profiles
3) Guys will go where the girls are; the inverse is not true.

Was there advertising? Sure. Would any of it had worked if Friendster wasn't a total failure? Nope.
posted by effugas at 7:10 PM on September 11, 2006

I did actually find a lot of people I went to high school with on myspace. Of course, I don't ever want to talk to any of them ever again, so I don't really have any use for it.
posted by bob sarabia at 7:12 PM on September 11, 2006

Any time I visit a myspace page (not often), I have an overwhelming feeling of fatigue when I see that same damn music player and endless vertical stream of "friends" saying "hey, thanks for the add, dude." Honestly, I want to leave after 5 seconds.
posted by davebush at 7:13 PM on September 11, 2006

Myspace will be difficult to dislodge from the top dog position because everyone who would like "something like myspace" is already on myspace, and has invested a lot of time and effort into it.

Difficult, sure, but it'll happen. Myspace became what it became because of kids. You may stay there because of your friends. Kids will leave when they no longer find myspace cool (and it's the disturbing adults who use myspace, as more than a joke, that will kill it).

It does what it was designed to do.

If that means make money, I'm in complete agreement.
posted by justgary at 7:15 PM on September 11, 2006

justgary:

1: Make money, 2: Provide desired service

or...

1: Provide desired service, 2: Make money

Which is a more natural progression?
posted by trinarian at 7:19 PM on September 11, 2006

It's pretty plausible that neither one of those follows the other.
posted by bob sarabia at 7:26 PM on September 11, 2006

Everybody uses MySpace because everybody uses MySpace

Uses it for what?
posted by a3matrix at 7:38 PM on September 11, 2006

not as logical in retrospect. better stated:

1: provide useful service, 2: make money or 1: provide useless service, 2: make money.

my point was that making money typically means you've provided someone with something they want
posted by trinarian at 7:39 PM on September 11, 2006

I hope this post echoes an unread earlier one when I say: who cares?
posted by longsleeves at 7:42 PM on September 11, 2006

I never heard anyone say they thought myspace was a 'grass roots' type thing. But it did start as a small independent company.
posted by delmoi at 7:43 PM on September 11, 2006

i feel like i'm hijacking, so i'll back off after this...

but to answer a3matrix, we use it for spam-free personal email, updates from friends, part-time blogging, finding new music from small bands, listening to new tracks from bands you already know, forums, effeciently organizing social events on short notice...
posted by trinarian at 7:44 PM on September 11, 2006

Nobody uses myspace because they think the layouts are lovely or the features are well implemented. They use it because all their friends use it.

I don't remember where, but I've read a convincing argument that so many use MySpace because it's so crappy, and that makes it more approachable.
posted by scottreynen at 8:00 PM on September 11, 2006

I thought LiveJournal was the place for all the girls to customize their profiles. Or maybe it's just for the emo kids.

Anyway, when I first heard someone mention MySpace I checked it out and wondered if maybe I was re-directed to a defunct Tripod page.

And then the music started playing... oh sweet zombie jesus.
posted by Talanvor at 8:02 PM on September 11, 2006

Yea...what the hell is the "thanks for the Add" crap?
posted by rough ashlar at 8:15 PM on September 11, 2006

Interesting post.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 8:18 PM on September 11, 2006

Isn't tom anderson Neo's real name in the Matrix?
posted by delmoi at 8:29 PM on September 11, 2006

My friend Emily found me after 8 years and we got to catch up.

Other than that, myspace is like the Taco Bell of the internet. Everybody eats there and everybody agrees the food sucks.
posted by eustacescrubb at 8:30 PM on September 11, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

The kids may leave—in fact, they almost certainly will, eventually—but it'll be for the next big thing, not because they have standards

Funny. I thought mySpace had already jumped the shark long ago, in the credibility stakes. Anecdotally, I can't think of a single hipsterish twentysomething I know who doesn't roll their eyes at mySpace & dismiss it outright, with maximum contempt, as the home of nothing other than nauseating emo-teenieboppers.

I would imagine that it only takes a smallish critical mass of hero-worshippable cooler older siblings, or crushworthy older siblings of friends, for the site to become completely gay & be replaced by something else, which then follows the same cycle.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:38 PM on September 11, 2006

That's the most scandalless scandal I've ever read.
posted by VulcanMike at 8:40 PM on September 11, 2006

Here's something far more interesting, along the same lines...
posted by VulcanMike at 8:41 PM on September 11, 2006

a3matrix writes "Everybody uses MySpace because everybody uses MySpace

"Uses it for what?"

For letting everybody know that they're on MySpace!
posted by needs more cowbell at 8:42 PM on September 11, 2006

Guys will go where the girls are; the inverse is not true.

I'm inclined to agree with that, but man, the times have changed. Back in the day, people used to market stuff to teens (especially certain types of movies) based on what guys liked. The theory was that the girls would follow wherever the guys went. Not sure if this is better or worse (probably neither), but it is interesting from a sociological standpoint.
posted by dhammond at 8:52 PM on September 11, 2006

Other than that, myspace is like the Taco Bell of the internet. Everybody eats there and everybody agrees the food sucks.
posted by eustacescrubb at 8:30 PM PST on September 11 [+] [!]

Best summary yet.
posted by Stauf at 9:13 PM on September 11, 2006

I use a fake myspace account to purely talk to Toilet Elf. There's been about 8 messages each so far. It's all triffickly bizarre. However, before the creepy net.stalker accusations fly again, I should point out that:

Toilet Elf knows my real name.

(I should put that on a t-shirt, really)
posted by Sparx at 9:24 PM on September 11, 2006

This is a ludicrous assertion. The internet was fucking invented to allow you to keep in touch with far away people. That's the whole goddamn design. Myspace has nothing at all to do with helping you do that. This fucking lie is the dumbest myth of all about myspace.

For all that indignation you could have at least had a point. Myspace- the niche, not the specific manifestation of Myspace- has a lot to do with it. Simple e-mail wouldn't allow for running into long lost friends- no serach or browse function. IM requires us to be available at the same time, nor is there a search function.

When I post something, a joke for example, to someone's profile, our friends will see it. We share the joke without clumsy recounting.The "fucking lie" does foster the sort of group friendship dynamics I shared with people until the tyranny of geography made it impossible in person. Again, it's not specifically Myspace, but the site does have some strengths that make is useful for this.

Sorry you find the utility of Myspace so offensive, I understand not liking it makes you feel cool. However, I do know what helps me keep in touch my friends, and yeah Myspace has something to do with that.
posted by spaltavian at 9:29 PM on September 11, 2006

Hit post too quickly.

I also wanted to say that - OMG! MySpace is funded by ads!

So's Google. So what?

I'm sure Google's mythology will also turn out to be similarly gilded in the final wash.
posted by Sparx at 9:30 PM on September 11, 2006

I just wish they would all stop using the walkie-talkie function of their cell phones. Jesus, is that annoying.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:31 PM PST on September 11 [+] [!]

Speaking as someone who just had to listen to her flatmate do that (while yelling into the speaker) yes.
posted by kosher_jenny at 9:49 PM on September 11, 2006

Sparx - Sorry you can't compare the ads on mySpace to Google adWords. Have you seen their 900x900 flashing red and yellow punch the monkey with a half clothed woman ads?
posted by mike_bling at 9:54 PM on September 11, 2006

Wait- this is news? I work in the much-maligned advertising business, and this isn't exactly a secret. MySpace was created to effectively target advertising to certain matched demographics.

It was conceived and built by a well-known ad server, if I recall, and it has changed hands a few times.
posted by kaseijin at 8:49 AM on September 12, 2006

I wonder if those MySpace / Helio phones have the walkie-talkie feature?
posted by idontlikewords at 9:08 AM on September 12, 2006

Hi myspace how u doin I just dropped by to say thanks for the ads
posted by Citizen Premier at 9:23 AM on September 12, 2006

If you have Firefox, get Greasemonkey and the Myspace Annoyance Remover. It makes Myspace profiles tolerable. It also breaks a few things, so if it does you can easily disable it on the fly.

Does Rupert own true.com too? Those are the only ads that I ever see on myspace these days.
posted by drstein at 9:44 AM on September 12, 2006

"Does Rupert own true.com too? Those are the only ads that I ever see on myspace these days." -- drstein

You probably only see those because of your age/race/gender/etc. Targeted marketing. If you were 16, you'd probably see ads for American Apparel and Dashboard Confessional or something. 24? ESPN or Verizon, etc...
posted by kaseijin at 9:58 AM on September 12, 2006

> I can't think of a single hipsterish twentysomething I know who doesn't roll their eyes at mySpace
> & dismiss it outright, with maximum contempt, as the home of nothing other than nauseating
> emo-teenieboppers.

Well, but exactly. Hipsterish twentysomethings are old. Last week's people. Get off their lawns. There's a reason myspace looks just like a teenybopper magazine.
posted by jfuller at 10:06 AM on September 12, 2006

According to the article, Myspace's deep email database and solid connections were the reason it was able to get off the ground and reach critical mass.

This seems obvious, and its substantiates something: This Myspace/virus/plague would never have gotten anywhere on it's own design/technical web-goodness merit.

It all goes back to the age old mantra of "it's not what you know, but who you know"
posted by thisisdrew at 10:16 AM on September 12, 2006

i have a myspace account and it's useless -- the interface is bad and the whole thing crashes constantly. the only thing it seems to be "good" for is collecting "friends."

i much prefer livejournal.
posted by sdn at 10:26 AM on September 12, 2006

The internet is a vast government conspiracy from the very beginning.
posted by JJ86 at 11:53 AM on September 12, 2006

Sparx - Sorry you can't compare the ads on mySpace to Google adWords. Have you seen their 900x900 flashing red and yellow punch the monkey with a half clothed woman ads?

I beg to differ. That's only a matter of degree (and taste, certainly). In terms of the article, they are both "spam" supported.

I have to confess, though, my knowledge of myspace is exceptionally limited to about 2 weeks worth of not doing much except internal-mailing one person. Do they actually send you unsolicited commercial mail as opposed to littering their pages with targetted adcrud? If not - the main point of the article ("They're SPAMMERS") seems somewhat stupid.

Also, work seems to have blocked the article site so I can't go back and see if I misread that point. Apple Logies.
posted by Sparx at 1:46 PM on September 12, 2006

Sparx, the point on spammers is that the company that brought MySpace to the world, in its current form, were connected to actual spammers, you know the viagra email type people.
posted by cell divide at 2:31 PM on September 12, 2006

MySpace is NOT a viral success. MySpace was advertised on mass levels to reach the public. MySpace was created by a company named eUniverse (who later changed their name to Intermix Media)

Yes, and the original founder of Intermix, Brad Greenspan, is now very pissed off.
posted by runkelfinker at 4:13 PM on September 12, 2006

Point taken, cell divide. I also found the author's definition of Spam 2.0 on his blog, which makes more sense. Color me embarrassed - I knew I shouldn't have given up the booze and the cigs, concentration and retention is up the wazoo...
posted by Sparx at 4:33 PM on September 12, 2006

"...bash all you want, i don't care who created it or how ugly it is... MySpace works. It does what it was designed to do."

But it doesn't work. When I try to go to links that MySpace directs me to, many times I get the stupid "You must be logged in to do this..." page -- even when I'm logged in!

Loading someone's page frequently takes a couple of minutes, and then can crash my browser (because their system allows and even encourages people to put the World's Worst Code^tm on their pages) -- and as far as I can tell, there's no global way to turn off the ugly styles, since they are done by embedding CSS in the page itself (in a broken way, at that) -- I have to use my browser to do it.

Usability and functionality on MySpace is a joke. When someone comments on a picture I've posted, how do I post a follow-up reply? I can't. I could send an e-mail, but that's a broken way to deal with it.

The only reason MySpace "works" for people is because everyone's on it and it stayed up longer than Friendster. But it's still awful.
posted by litlnemo at 5:29 PM on September 12, 2006

Second litlnemo. It doesn't work. When mucking about with MySpace, I'm also constantly faced with "You must be logged in to do this."

I've selected the option in my preferences to tell it "Do not automatically start music player". And what do you know? Every time I visit a page with embedded music, it starts playing.

There's a big, bold box on the page telling me I can give MySpace access to my Gmail account, to find my contacts who might be on MySpace (my biggest complaint about MySpace is that everyone I know isn't on there - but I thought I'd give this a try to be sure). But when I did this, it tells me it doesn't work and to try again.

So I try again.

And again.

And I do a Google search to find out what the problem might be, and discover that, quite simply, it doesn't work for anyone and hasn't in some time. But there's still a big, bold box telling me to import my contacts from Gmail.

I'm kinda tending towards believing MySpace is some kind of deliberate joke. No-one can put together a site that useless and difficult to use, with glaring bugs everywhere that never get fixed, without laughing at us all from their server room.
posted by Jimbob at 6:59 PM on September 12, 2006

Myspace is only good for stalking people and then dismembering them in your basement.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 6:37 PM PST on September 11

Told you so.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 12:17 PM on September 14, 2006