myspace fights back
My thought is Murdoch has learn a thing or two from China where he's engaged and invested for more than 20 years.
Lesson for Murdoch: Keep the Bloggers Happy The New York Times
Business/Financial Desk; SECTC
By JULIE BOSMAN
2 January 2006
When Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation bought MySpace, the social-networking Web site, in July, some of its users gloomily predicted that the site would be altered to suit the company's corporate interests.
Proof for many of those people came earlier this month, when MySpace users began to notice that any references to YouTube, a video-sharing site and a competitor, were erased or blocked from appearing on My-Space. Some MySpace users also reported that when they tried to download videos from YouTube, a patch of white space appeared instead.
Ever-sensitive to corporate meddling, many MySpace users got angry. ''My friends and I are trying to make the blogging community aware of a stealth censorship campaign that is being conducted by MySpace,'' one MySpace user, Ellis Yu, wrote to the Blog Herald, a Web site about blogs. ''They are not admitting to it, and are trying to do this in secret.''
Matthew McCullough, a blogger from Montclair, N.J., wrote in a Dec. 22 blog post that ''if you even mention the word YouTube on your MySpace profile, it will be literally ripped out and only an empty white space will remain.''
The official blog maintained by YouTube offered another explanation the next day, saying the issue was ''a simple misunderstanding, and MySpace has re-enabled all YouTube embeds.'' A spokesman for the News Corporation did not return phone calls on Friday.
The incident underlines the peril corporations face as they buy blogs and networking sites like MySpace, which depend on the good will of their users. Mr. Murdoch paid $580 million for MySpace, a significant investment for a two-year-old Web site primarily populated by fickle teenagers and users in their 20's. Like other members of free community Web sites, MySpace users often react with indignation if they believe their content has been tampered with.
And they can always decide to leave for other networking sites. As one irate user put it in a message to MySpace members, ''visit Friendster and Hi5 if you're interested in social networking sites that don't censor content and allow your YouTube video embeds.''
Lesson for Murdoch: Keep the Bloggers Happy The New York Times
Business/Financial Desk; SECTC
By JULIE BOSMAN
2 January 2006
When Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation bought MySpace, the social-networking Web site, in July, some of its users gloomily predicted that the site would be altered to suit the company's corporate interests.
Proof for many of those people came earlier this month, when MySpace users began to notice that any references to YouTube, a video-sharing site and a competitor, were erased or blocked from appearing on My-Space. Some MySpace users also reported that when they tried to download videos from YouTube, a patch of white space appeared instead.
Ever-sensitive to corporate meddling, many MySpace users got angry. ''My friends and I are trying to make the blogging community aware of a stealth censorship campaign that is being conducted by MySpace,'' one MySpace user, Ellis Yu, wrote to the Blog Herald, a Web site about blogs. ''They are not admitting to it, and are trying to do this in secret.''
Matthew McCullough, a blogger from Montclair, N.J., wrote in a Dec. 22 blog post that ''if you even mention the word YouTube on your MySpace profile, it will be literally ripped out and only an empty white space will remain.''
The official blog maintained by YouTube offered another explanation the next day, saying the issue was ''a simple misunderstanding, and MySpace has re-enabled all YouTube embeds.'' A spokesman for the News Corporation did not return phone calls on Friday.
The incident underlines the peril corporations face as they buy blogs and networking sites like MySpace, which depend on the good will of their users. Mr. Murdoch paid $580 million for MySpace, a significant investment for a two-year-old Web site primarily populated by fickle teenagers and users in their 20's. Like other members of free community Web sites, MySpace users often react with indignation if they believe their content has been tampered with.
And they can always decide to leave for other networking sites. As one irate user put it in a message to MySpace members, ''visit Friendster and Hi5 if you're interested in social networking sites that don't censor content and allow your YouTube video embeds.''
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12:57 PM
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