Not Myspace January 18th, 2008
I've long avoided myspace, allowing brief forays to interact with friends who somehow seem reluctant to simply email me. I could never exactly spell out why it didn't work for me. But a recent article had a rather poignant quote that seems to help.
"MySpace, with its cluttered layout, can suggest an online incarnation of the broken-windows theory—surface disorder begetting actual chaos." - The New Yorker (via 37signals).
If users don't worry about the appearance and quality of their surroundings, why should we expect they will worry about the way they treat others? At the very least it sets a poor precedent. I think it tries too hard to be something for everyone. De facto community standards of usage provide stronger feelings of community, but I think myspace is too far along to adopt them now. I just hope the next generation of pages can learn from the chaos.
1 Response to “Not Myspace”
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January 22nd, 2008 at 10:47 AM I definitely agree with this sentiment. I've always been repelled by MySpace, and have tried to convince my friends that it is for tools. Now I have a convincing argument, though the people who use MySpace might not be persuaded by it.