MySpace: The End of the Internet As We Know It

Web2.0 is a hot buzzword.

So everyone's got to get in on the hype.

Both YouTube and MySpace fit the textbook definition of Web 2.0, that hypothetical next-generation Internet where people contribute as easily as they consume. Even self-described late adopters like New York's Kurt Andersen recognize that that by letting everyone contribute, these sites have reached a critical mass where "a real network effect has kicked in."

But the focus on the collaborative nature of these sites has been nagging at me. Sites like Friendster and Blogger that promote sharing and friend-making have been around for years with nowhere near the mainstream success. I've got a different theory. YouTube and MySpace are runaway hits because they combine two attributes rarely found together in tech products. They're easy to use, and they don't tell you what to do.

YouTube is actually pretty cool.

But I'm convinced you have to have a high threshold for pain to be a MySpace user. As a result of this article, I decided I'd see if any people from my high school were on there. (Bensalem Township HS, Class of 1995, btw)

Yes they are. (21 out of 450)

Unfortunately they have no self control when it comes to these pages. Is it possible to open up a MySpace page that doesn't peg your CPU @ 100% or kill your web browser? Not everyone wants to hear your favorite song when you load the page!

I finally opened up the web page source and found the host that serves the music, lads.myspace.com , put it in my hosts file pointing to 127.0.0.1 and now myspace is pleasantly quiet.

But that doesn't solve the problem of garishness. Which is why I bolded the above line.

Anyone can build a webpage. It's like 1995 all over again, except instead of obnoxious blink tags, we have superflous flash animations, multiple embedded videos, Bon Jovi and black text on a black background!

I shouldn't want to punch my computer when I want to see what old friends are up to.

I'm all for making the internet and computers easy. We all benefit.

I guess that's the downside of freedom to do what you want. No one's stopping you from being obnoxious... especially if you don't even realize it.

Rant Posted by AlexC at April 28, 2006 11:17 PM