I missed this one earlier in the week but still think it's worth noting: a very strange article over on ValleyWag, which claimed to "expose" the truth about MySpace.
With lots of big build up ("the article News Corp didn't want you to see" etc), it comes down to a lot of feigned shock about how MySpace isn't the huge love-in that nobody thought it was. Underneath it all there's one serious contention - that its creators, Intermix, have some dubious connections with spammers - but even that seems to confuse spam with online marketing, and gets caught up in silly assertions like this:
"The whole site is, in essence, a marketing tool that everyone who registers has access to. Users constantly receive spam-like messages from said bands, business, and individuals looking to add more "friends" (and therefore more potential fans, consumers, or witnesses) to their online identity. A testament to this strange new social paradigm is the phrase "Thanks for the Add," a nicety offered when one MySpace user "adds" another as a "friend."
No WAY! Apparently it's news that many people - including the makers of social networks - see social networking as a form of marketing.
It gets even worse (apparently MySpace, like, COPIED Friendster), and the author, 19-year-old Trent Lapinski, does an admirable job of cranking up the shock factor. But even Nick Denton - Valleywag's uberboss - called it out, pleading "Please, enough of the manufactured outrage". Thankfully it doesn't seem to have been picked up by many outlets... yet.
