MySpace should start WDC/PDC’s and Certification programs. It can play hardball and compete (as it’s done with MySpace video) but should also invest in growing the third-party base they’ve got. They should look seriously at doing co-branded advertisements like Microsoft did/does. They should build out API’s and Developer Support.

Bebo, Friendster, Facebook, and others are starting to realize the power of the third-party ecosystem, but MySpace has a huge lead.

Real life social clubs like rotary, elks, lions, country clubs, etc have caved and allowed for open access. Open access will impact for both consumers and business and has far reaching and wide ranging effects that will go beyond the boundaries as we know them today. Open access, for lack of a better term, would be disastrous for community based social networking sites and eat away at their core value to users(being a part of a community of people with similar beliefs, ages, colors, creeds, sexual orientations, etc). Additionally, from a business point of view, what good or additional value would it bring advertisers? At the end of the day, like it or not, they subsidize the internet as we know it and market to a targeted audience as to the extent they can find one. Targeted social networks as we know them today an an ideal medium for targeting very a specific audience and mixing that up only creates a less targeted, less ideal population to market to which means less $ per click or eyeball which means less spending on advertising and since we already established advertising as a subsidy, less innovation.

Boo to net neutrality, it may be slightly painful in the short term but it is a marathon, not a sprint.

You are certainly entitled to have your own opinion about RL… as am I. Let’s just agree to disagree and leave it at that.

As for the validity of this information and its source… I’m quite comfortable with their authenticity.

Thanks for commenting.

I guess you can’t be blamed for the inaccuracy of this post, though, since you say someone’s feeding you this silly idea. They’re pullin your leg Mr. Young!

My take on some of this is the continued “roll out: of new features that tend to crash the servers with unusually predictability.

Time and time again, MSpace crashes as new “features” either consume bandwidth or just blame are so bug laden, the servers lock up.

Case(s) in point the launch of the videos last year, Holiday roll out of the targeted Google Ads, and the new expanded 300 photo limits to the photo journal.

And yet also swimming around all this IT savvy and apparent skill sets, MySpace runs a plug-in bulletin to “fix” problems with the Apple Quick time that still as of today says something to the effect of hurry . new / urgent etc etc except the brain-trust fails to update the original December date of December 5 2006. Like they apparently just plain forget to manage the spam.

Thank you for having an open dialogue, as quite frankly the continued routine crashes are just plain laughable.

The reason it took of was the ease of personalise it and messaging.

by removing the ease of adding 3rd parties they are opening up a huge gap for someone else.

With their money I just don’t know why they don’t spend some serious money on allowing 3rd parties extending their platform.

Lately, I’ve been thinking through an oft-discussed scenario involving MySpace… one that I have good reason to believe is now highly likely in 2007. What if MySpace suddenly decided to put up tollbooths and all the players within the MySpace third…

Suranga,
Your comment is spot on. Done well, it could work… and be beneficial to all parties. The devil is in the details, of course.

Marcus,
You might be surprised by how much Murdoch, now, gets the Web 2.0 ethos… more than most think. In my opinion, it’s not him so much as some others within his management ranks. In fact, it may turn out that Murdoch himself may end up saving the day.

Thanks all for the insightful comments, as usual.