One Reason MySpace Might Screw Up
It is trendy to think that social networks are fleeting and like nightclubs that change with the seasons. I don’t think that is true. The services themselves have to do something to drive their stakeholders away.
Friendster did it with abmismally slow servers for a prolonged period of time that opened up a window for MySpace. Netscape did it by first allowing people to develop plugins for its browser and then about-facing and buying up certain plugins and then bundling them in with the browser, in effect removing the incentives of platform extenders and creating a bloated product.
A similar if slightly different micro-trend is emerging on MySpace. Small startups that extend MySpace functionality, from checking up on the dating status of friends to text messaging, have been shut down. Myspace also nearly shut down YouTube but then realized they were too big and back tracked. The developers are adding new features and then being shut down because of the MySpace terms of service.
Microsoft near invented the platform eco system, and MySpace is doing everything to discourage it, which presumably could open up an opportunity for a company to compete with this marketing strategy. Let’s see if they are smart enough to change their initial course of action…
