Sound Surveillance For The Spots That Cameras Can't Quite Get

Yes, You Can Have Too Many Friends

from the backlash dept

Thu, Oct 26th 2006 9:09am — Carlo Longino

In all the fuss about the supposed value of social-networking sites, one factor is seemingly being ignored: what the sites' users make of their growing popularity. Unfortunately for the likes of MySpace and Facebook, it's not all good news, as the problems popularity can bring is leading some users to give up. They say they're overwhelmed with advertising and spam, while some Facebook users aren't happy with changes it's made, including the decision to open itself up to everyone, rather than being closed to students or employees of certain companies. MySpace and Facebook's growth is slowing, and traffic at the sites fell in September, though their execs say it's just a seasonal issue because kids were going back to school (which you'd think might increase their use of Facebook, but apparently not). So despite all the money being thrown around in this space, it's still got plenty of issues to work out, the biggest being just how to monetize their traffic. It's easy to slap ads all over the place, but it's much more difficult to do it without alienating the users generating all that traffic.

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33 Comments

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Sanguine Dream, 26 Oct 2006 @ 9:43am

Ebb and flow
It's down right silly to think that a company can stay on top forever without changing its ways to fit the current (and future) times accordingly. It may be that the wow factor of MySpace and Facebook has finally dropped off.
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Mike, 26 Oct 2006 @ 10:15am

down, down, down
I hope it dies quickly along with the new MTV generation.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 10:19am

Duh...I mean, Myspace is SOOOOOOOO 2005...
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James, 26 Oct 2006 @ 10:20am

Opinions
I use both MySpace and Facebook, and the differences were clear before - I would rarely use MySpace because of all the junk on it (ie porno wannabes, bands trying to gain as many friends to get publicity, and the "sexy" teenies pretending they were 25). Facebook was college only and way more controlled. Personally I didn't like the idea of opening it to anyone else, but hey- everyone wants to be included and they will get mad if they can't be now right?
It's when big-time players get ahold of these sites that it becomes more than just a social network and instead a stalker / spam playground.
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Dennis, 26 Oct 2006 @ 10:43am

Editing?
While it is true most business models need to be modified over time, for some types of businesses, certain core characteristics ought to be maintained. This is an example of straying from the original premise with predictable results.

Short polite rant -

Interesting article. I do appreciate the info - but can someone please read and edit before posting?

see the phrase "changes its made"

its = more than one it? does not make sense....
it's= contraction for "it is" this does not make sense either
perhaps you meant "changes it has made...."

A small thing perhaps, but it impacted the reading for me like driving a car at 50mph and going over a speed bump. Ouch!
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- Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 10:47am
  
  Re: Editing?
  Actually, going over a speed bump at 50mph, is better then at 30mph... The car will skip over the bump at higher speeds rather than roll over it... Although, it may cause the car to get out of control, it still better for tires at 50 than at 30...
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- Word geek, 26 Oct 2006 @ 11:31am
  
  Re: Editing?
  "it's" is a contraction for both "it has" and "it is".
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 10:53am

Well, "it's" is a perfectly legitimate contraction of "it has"

Looks to me as if they just dropped an apostrophe...
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Disgusted, 26 Oct 2006 @ 10:59am

Disgusted
I was hoping to read the replies to the post and get something out of it other then a grammar lesson. Thanks.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 11:04am

Re: Editing?
And 'its' can be singular posessive...
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User, 26 Oct 2006 @ 11:12am

My beef with MySpace is the types of ads. Those "Dating" site ads are really embarrassing when showing people at work my MySpace.
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- Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 2:05pm
  
  Re:
  Boo-fucking-hoo.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 11:18am

MySpace was a youth fenomenon, and therefore young people flocked to it. It was new and refreshing. Now, everybody knows and use it, and it is time to move on to something new again.
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Magic Flying Car, 26 Oct 2006 @ 11:29am

Speedbumps
Wow... Someone mentions spelling and grammar and then wow someone comes up with an irrelevant analogy which does not hold a bit of truth whatsoever...

You can only sort of float over speedbumps... not a speedbump... Even that is questionable, so unless you have a car that flies exactly how do you apply mass and inertia to an obstacle / resisting force and have no redirection or inverse resulting force applied to your car...

Jeez.
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xxl3w, 26 Oct 2006 @ 11:53am

AND!
"it's" is also "it was"
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- Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 12:41pm
  
  Re: AND!
  The one for which you are looking is 'twas.
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julianmonsta, 26 Oct 2006 @ 11:54am

I guess no one else remembers...
The time before myspace was filled with facethejury.com/livejournal.com/and friendster.com

Apparently no one tries to learn from history anymore. Soon these sites will be laid to rest just like the ones mentioned above.
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elise, 26 Oct 2006 @ 12:04pm

how about the fact that myspace is slooooow and very glitchy? half the time i just give up because the damn thing takes too long and then fails to load anything!

not to mention all the ad clutter - putting that annyoing flashing banner ad directly in my face isn't going to make me click on it - just piss me off.

one more thing - myspace is sold out that it's not as cool anymore. myspace was originally "a place for friends" and im sorry but i don't consider big corporations and a honda element my friend.
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MYSPACE ROCKS!!@! OH-EM-JEE$%%, 26 Oct 2006 @ 12:26pm

"Auto accident? Overweight? Too stupid to not see the sign that says 'no entry'? Need a lawyer? Just click 'add friend' for your friends here at (insert blood sucker firm here) Law Offices and keep up to date on our current cases and music interests!"

**Future of myspace**

"Google has 35004946 friends on its network"

"You are friends with **** pornstars without your knowing and are downloading ### trojans and viruses onto your computer currently"

**Wait 6 months and this will all be true**

Kill the MTV generation and everyone that's ever been on "my sweet 16", take their money, and right the world again by giving it all to people with creativity and intellect.
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Anonymous geek, 26 Oct 2006 @ 12:27pm

If you're showing your MySpace profile to your co-workers, than why the heck are you embarassed in the first place?

Lord.

PS -- CORRECT MY GRAMMER

PPS -- Correct my spelling.
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- Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 12:43pm
  
  Re:
  Waht dsoe it mttaer how thnigs are spleled as lnog as all of the leettrs are tehre.
  
  Nice!
  
  You know, you could point out the fact that 70+ years ago MySpace was called a whorehouse. Now atleast the infections you get are a little less unpleasant and the cost. Well that has gone up a bit… Can’t win them all.
  
  I think My point is just about as valid as those made by the Mad Grammatical Hatter. Though to be honest about it, I failed English class
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tuski, 26 Oct 2006 @ 12:29pm

they all suck
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Fiftysomething View, 26 Oct 2006 @ 12:36pm

Now that the kids have moved out...
...the empty nesters can socialize?
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chris (profile), 26 Oct 2006 @ 1:10pm

all you nerds hate myspace
because not even tom will be your friend :-)
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pb, 26 Oct 2006 @ 1:51pm

props to chris for post #23... i laughed
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UCGunjin, 26 Oct 2006 @ 2:09pm

Apparently there aren't any English majors responsible for any of these posts, including myself. Besides, post etiquette does not include rules of grammar, spelling or even proper speech flow. It's much more productive in a post thread to just stick with the topic and keep your grammatical opinions, many times incorrect, to yourself.

As far as the whole MySpace and Facebook website phenomena is concerned: who really cares? Websites like that don't really serve to further cultivate international relations since most people's personalities on the internet are not the same as they are in person. Furthermore, with all of the advertisements and malware that permeates the site, it's little better than watching commercial television.
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mousepaw, 26 Oct 2006 @ 3:17pm

Hey!
Thanx 4 the guffaw(s)!!! You guys really make me laff.
4tunately, I haven't visited any of thoz sites and so, alasss, I cannaughtt comment but it sher was phun to read yer rite'n.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 3:29pm

MY Space
My space is were ever I happen to be at the moment, wanna buy advertising???????
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 6:01pm

Firefox + ADBlock = put as many ads on there as you want, I'll just filter them all out.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Oct 2006 @ 9:03pm

WTF.. what happened to TechDirt? Where did all these random off-topic comments come from? I guess it's the MySpace generation taking over the web. Damnit, get off my lawn!!
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mark, 26 Oct 2006 @ 9:47pm

'twas'
I named my son "Twas". So shouldn't it be: "The one of whom you are looking for is 'whom'?"
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satan, 27 Oct 2006 @ 12:07am

I don't
I don't have time to use those sites.
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HUM THIS, 28 Oct 2006 @ 5:55pm

The MTV generation wanders through life like a flock of dyslexic hummingbirds with attention deficit syndrome.

That would be because they only need to wait 30 seconds for the next net fad to come and go; after the corporate marketing gurus suck the life out of it.

Phhht!
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