Whose Space Is It Anyway?
Do you love throwing sheep? Is poking your friends the best part of your day? Tom Anderson, president of MySpace would answer these questions with a categorical no! In a rare act of public communication, the president of the 600 pound gorilla of social networking laid out some rules for MySpace application developers. The rules includes governance over how people are invited to adopt applications and rules around incentivizing apps.
Tom states the following,
“Balancing the needs of a community is never an easy job. There are many constituents, all with their own needs and desires. The needs of the few cannot outweigh the needs of the many.”
My Proposition
Why not put some of the governing power in the hands of the community?
One only needs to look at the success of Wikipedia to know that the wisdom of crowds is a very powerful thing. If MySpace is in fact a “community” why not set up a trusted board of members and developers (perhaps let the community vote on them). Let them be part of the approval process for applications and other pieces of the platform. I am not advocating MySpace let users entirely run the show, but why does MySpace not take on a more transparent, collaborative stance on the community.
I have to be honest, I see MySpace as a sinking ship. I do however think that if MySpace were to make some radical moves they could turn things around.
I am not holding my breathe.
I have become increasingly disillusioned with both Facebook and MySpace, as they do not embody the true essence of community. Sure, I understand they have revenue goals and they are not charities, but I think it is time to stop referring to these networks as communities and start calling them what they really are, services (and businesses).
Tags: myspace, facebook, tom anderson, wikipedia, apps
May 21, 2008
Large amounts of data will ALWAYS need structure and control, especially when money is involved, which inevitably there always is regarding web business.
Here is a good one concerning “wisdom of crowds”
http://www.slate.com//id/2184487
May 21, 2008
Chris
Great point and I do agree that the wisdom of crowds is not a cure all. I do however think that the 1% mentioned in the article you posted ( http://tinyurl.com/6ppff2 ) could represent a step in the right direction. Like I said, I am not looking for any social network to open up governance to everyone, but I think if there were a structured way that the community could get involved, it would be a big help!
Do you feel there is a structured way that MySpace could involve it’s community (a la wikipedia) or do you think that this would simply never work?
May 21, 2008
Myspace is an ad revenue giant, if I were in charge I’d want to firstly ensure that that was in no way ever going to compromised.
Why would I want more community involved, for what business purpose, is the question here really.
May 21, 2008
They are an ad revenue giant NOW, but I am on the fence about whether or not they will be able to continue to hit their goals with the growing amount of competition.
As users find new platforms with new features, and new freedom to act in accordance with what works best for them, people may exit MySpace just like they did Friendster.
The, “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mantra does not work in a world of disruptive business models. If MySpace does not find a way to let the community aid in telling them what they want, MySpace will surely suffer the fate of the Innovators Dilemma
May 21, 2008
I login to MySpace about twice a year to say “ok” to new friend requests so I’m not a MySpace advocate at all, in fact I think it’s a hideous place. I have a brand presence there is all.
However, I don’t really see what this “disruptive business model” is, or how it would apply to MySpace lovers. MySpace is so radically different to its rival, Facebook, it is unique enough to maintain dominance, IMHO. Classic example being the widespread use for music publicity, open to Google and all, take ANY band in the world and they’ll have a MySpcae page.
The majority of current critics are early adopters whom are infinitesimally small compared to the mainstream mass users, who just, well, use it.
I may be wrong but we will see, MySpace got in early and have a generation behind them, changing that will take some major fuck-up (changing too much) or some other Black Swan.
May 21, 2008
I was referring to the disruptive nature of social networks in general (in the textbook sense of the phrase, disruptive technology) and how they have disrupted the initial incarnation of the web.
On the Disruptive Technology chart, the point at which the most demanding use crosses the actual technology is where many businesses fall off of the radar because they are not able to reinvent themselves fast enough. You are right that MySpace is very different than its competitors, but if it is going to succeed in the social networking space, they will have to find new ways to innovate. Sure, they continue to be a great space for music discovery, but they have competition breathing down their necks in that space too.
Given the rate of change in this space, I would say that MySpace will be largely irrelevant for an increasing segment of the population.