Secrets behind MySpace’s success
I met MySpace’s CTO, Aber Whitcomb, last night at the posh and packed MySpace party here at Mix06 and I asked him how MySpace got so popular. He cited a few things:
1) They made sure influentials in Hollywood (stars, bands) were among the first users.
2) They listen to their users and add features frequently (usually noticeable new features every week).
3) They let the users tell them what to do. He mentioned that other services, like Friendster, tried to tell their users what not to do.
4) When MySpace visitors first log on they already had a friend: the founder Tom. That was in contrast to other services where you had to work to find your first friend. His page also gave you a template to get started.
These things mirror what Danah Boyd noticed in her essay: Is MySpace just a fad? She says that we need to pay attention to MySpace because moral outrage against MySpace will hurt all of us. I totally agree. More reactions to Danah’s post are on Memeorandum.
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March 22nd, 2006 at 5:37 pm
[...] More technical secrets behind MySpace’s success Well, there is of course this, posted by Scoble and there is also a more technical aspect to the success. It is powered by 64-bit Windows. Read more in a recent press announcement. Thanks to Jose for pointing this out. Filed Under: 64-bit, Microsoft, 64-bit for Users [...]
March 22nd, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Volker, you’re right. They do have some secrets behind how they are scaling up their technology, but everyone can use 64-bit Windows, so I wanted to get the rest of the story.
March 22nd, 2006 at 6:23 pm
[...] Secrets Behind MySpace’s Success - interesting thoughts on creating and cultivating a community of users. However, getting Hollywood influentials amongst the first users is a formidable challebge for the vast majority of entrepreneurs. [...]
March 22nd, 2006 at 6:24 pm
64-bit windows only helps on the database (ram intensive) side, not to noticable on the front end. At least that is my experience.
The true success of myspace comes from the fact there was no competition and it scaled well to reach its current size. Going forward myspace is going to get smaller as there are a lot of things working against them.
1. Sites are going to generalize and steal back traffic. ie dating sites, band specific sites etc. Myspace is currently everything to everyone.
2. The sites population is aging, and more then likely will feel at home with facebook or myyearbook
Users currently spend hours and hours on the site. The bulk of these users are under the age of 18. Once you get out of school then you no longer have hours and hours to waste. When you go online after 18 you have a job career etc and no longer have the 8 hours a day to waste on myspace. There will always be a big population of users over 18, but it can never approach the market penetration of the under 18 crowd.
March 22nd, 2006 at 6:41 pm
There is always the ripoff, sitespaces by beer28 :P
March 22nd, 2006 at 6:42 pm
http://www.flukiest.com/user/ducky
This is the man who FOUNDED myspace.com, it was later bought by spam and spyware giant EUniverse and response base, which Tom Anderson owned. These were people with HUGE spam lists from xdrive.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=2
The CEO of the company is #6
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=6
I’ve had some email convo’s with him. He now uses perl and linux to code his social networking website and has mvo
On his blog recently he posted job opportunities for Perl and Linux developers only.
http://blog.flukiest.com/2006/01/hardcore_perl_developer.html
“You are down with the open source cause. If you or anyone you know is a hardcore LINUX/Unix, PERL, MySQL, Apache, Template Toolkit, SMARTY, MVC, PHP, HTML, AJAX, TCP/IP, Object Oriented geek than please contact me. Flukiest is looking for talented engineers to help build cool solid next generation technologies.”
Interesting that he dropped windows and is now using Linux and open source to build his next gen social networking explosion????
They ran a SPAM website called responsebase.com and ran spyware networks.
“Intermix Management and other Insiders sold approximately $25 million of Intermix stock in full knowledge that the New York State Attorney General (NY-AG), Eliot Spitzer,would soon file a lawsuit against the company for
certain adware promotion activity.” (7.5 Million Settlement)
http://www.intermixedup.com/
“ResponseBase was booted from their ISP as an illicit spam organization– with Tom Anderson himself listed as their billing contact. And later still, ResponseBase would be renamed to MySpace.”
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Bloggers_investigate_social_networking_websites
Who can’t get a huge base when they’re running one of the biggest spyware/spam operations in the us?
Then when they got on the news for child endangerment issues, that did the rest.
March 22nd, 2006 at 6:42 pm
As a high school computer science teacher, I probably hear more about MySpace than 99 percent of people my age. It exploded on campus this year, going from almost zero users at the beginning of September to virtual every single student in October. I would say it owes a lot of its success to how fast and easy it is. The fact that you can create your MySpace account during your free period allows those who are behind on the bandwagon to catch up easily, and MySpace owes much of its popularity to a bandwagon mentality. You aren’t cool if you don’t have a MySpace account. Plus, if you aren’t cool, you can still feel connected to the cool kids. The idea of having a “friend network” is mainly the reason for the popularity of the Facebook/MySpace wesbites. They validate people by showing them how many friends they have, even if they don’t know half of their “friends.”
Unfortunately, MySpace’s ease and the freedom’s it allows are dangerous. There have already been several reports of girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen being abducted through MySpace. MySpace is the ultimate stalker tool; anyone can sign up, create an account with a fake name, and instantly know every detail of every high school student in the country.
My question is whether or not MySpace should have any responsibility for creating a potential dangerous environment for high school students; their personal information and every aspect of their daily lives and schedule now on public record. I don’t know, but I am curious how are society plans to deal.
March 22nd, 2006 at 6:46 pm
Any of that stuff qualify as “anti-marketing”?
March 22nd, 2006 at 6:50 pm
Andy: That’s why I prefer Facebook. You can still stalk people to a certain extent, but it’s not nearly as pronounced as MySpace - where you can see everyone, and everyone can see you.
March 22nd, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Go go gadget .NET. Much better than the Macromedia cfm they once had. The same cfm http://vidilife.com uses. Tagworld is probably the next big thing anyway. They now have over a million members. So they are slated to replace myspace pretty soon. Details of myspace.com’s “.NET switch”
Server Error in ‘/’ Application.
Cannot open database requested in login ‘myspacesharedread’. Login fails.
Login failed for user ‘AspAdoNet’.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Cannot open database requested in login ‘myspacesharedread’. Login fails.
Login failed for user ‘AspAdoNet’.
Stack Trace:
[SqlException (0x80131904): Cannot open database requested in login 'myspacesharedread'. Login fails.
Login failed for user 'AspAdoNet'.]
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.GetConnection(DbConnection owningObject) +437
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection) +82
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.OpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory) +105
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open() +111
MySpace.Persistence.Dao.Profile.ProfileDao.GetSharedData(Int32[] idlist) in C:\My Documents\ReleaseBuild\Persistence\Dao\Profile\ProfileDao.cs:684
MySpace.Persistence.Dao.Profile.ProfileDao.ConstructUser(MySpaceUserReadOnly user, Boolean isFriend, DateTime eventEndDate) in C:\My Documents\ReleaseBuild\Persistence\Dao\Profile\ProfileDao.cs:40
MySpace.Persistence.Dao.Profile.ProfileDao.ConstructUser(MySpaceUserReadOnly user) in C:\My Documents\ReleaseBuild\Persistence\Dao\Profile\ProfileDao.cs:30
MySpace.RemoteCaching.Client.Transports.MySpaceBackendProvider.GetAndHydrateUser(Int32 userID) in C:\My Documents\ReleaseBuild\Persistence\DataProviders\MySpaceBackendProvider.cs:18
MySpace.Persistence.DataProviders.CachedUserProvider.GetAndHydrateUser(Int32 userID) in C:\My Documents\ReleaseBuild\Persistence\DataProviders\CachedUserProvider.cs:83
MySpace.Web.Classes.ProfileLoader.GetUser(Int32 friendID) +111
[DataMapperException: Unable to open connection to "".]
IBatisNet.DataMapper.SqlMapSession.OpenConnection(String connectionString) +291
IBatisNet.DataMapper.SqlMapSession.OpenConnection() +17
IBatisNet.DataMapper.SqlMapper.QueryForObject(String statementName, Object parameterObject) +82
MySpace.Persistence.Dao.Gateways.SharedGatewayDao.UserIdForUsername(String userName) in C:\My Documents\ReleaseBuild\Persistence\Dao\Gateways\SharedGatewayDao.cs:43
MySpace.Web.Classes.ContextualInfo.ProfileDisplayContext.get_ContextualFriendID() +169
MySpace.Web.Classes.ContextualInfo.ProfileDisplayContext.get_CurrentContextualUser() +19
MySpace.Web.UI.ProfileDisplayBasePage.Page_PreInit(Object sender, EventArgs e) +39
System.Web.Util.CalliHelper.EventArgFunctionCaller(IntPtr fp, Object o, Object t, EventArgs e) +15
System.Web.Util.CalliEventHandlerDelegateProxy.Callback(Object sender, EventArgs e) +34
System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e) +0
System.Web.UI.Page.OnPreInit(EventArgs e) +2009804
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +521
March 22nd, 2006 at 7:12 pm
MSN’s Live Space is suffering due to the MySpace effect but one thing MSN are very concerned about is the protection of minors unlike MySpace. MSN closed down chatrooms for the very same reason that peado’s were grooming young girls. I think it should be MySpace’s moral duty to protect the identity of its underage users and prevent the harm of paedos or is MySpace/BSkyB/Murdoch more interested in the fast advertising dollar and therefore prepared to turn a blind eye to this abuse. I guess by their actions they are.
I have two small daughters and I would seriously consider their use on MySpace as it currently stands. Yes they will kick and scream that all their friends have a MySpace and its the cool place. But sitting in the shopping mall hanging out with other kids - some of which I do not know about - may seem equally cool but I would not let them.
Personally as a responsible parent we have lots of their friends around or they go to them. We therefore know - as much as we can without invading their privacy - who they are with and where they are. The world is dangerous. I trust my children and do not want to wrap them in cotton wool but equally I do not want some sick pervert on MySpace pretending to be a teenager and their new best friend just because there are no software controls.
March 22nd, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Robert: What do you mean by “moral outrage”? And how will it hurt us? No, that isn’t sarcasm. I genuinely don’t know what you mean. Does disliking myspace because you can make a much better service count as moral outrage? And I’m a web developer, so does my hating of their code and basically everything about administering a myspace account count as moral outrage? Seriously, do a view source on that monster ;)
March 22nd, 2006 at 7:31 pm
I wonder if MySpace could find itself susceptible to lawsuits because of its lack of protection for minors.
March 22nd, 2006 at 7:35 pm
Wow, MySpace isn’t masking their application errors with a regular error page? Scary for someone their size, as a whole lot of people now know their database name & a login ID to start with.
March 22nd, 2006 at 8:14 pm
Irony being you dismissed them as not ‘real blogs’ and ‘not important’ only but a year ago. I saw them as becoming the leader in that space. But everyone was all Orkut’ing and playing ‘geeky-insider invites’ games back then. But Rupert Murdoch overspent, and the user numbers they are throwing out are seriously fuzzy accounting, eyeballs pre-dot.com style. And people go, but then never go back. And sometimes once it BECOMES popular, it’s on a death march. Victim of own success, once it hits the big time and gets on the local News, people move onto something that has more indie street cred.
1) They made sure Hollywood stars among the first users? Ummm, so? Marketing 101, but sure didn’t work for the Xbox 360, slicking Paris Hilton and ilk with them, while hardcore fan pre-orders went without. Slapping celebrities is one but one small step, and it can also backfire.
2) They listen to their users and add features frequently? Again. Duh. Marketing 101. And unlike say a big software company, they deliver. But listening to those customers is pure chaos, rather that you poll the customers. Have a plan, and get feedback on directions, not eternal feedback that tar-pits you.
3) They let the users tell them what to do. Duh. Democracy in action, you’d rather complex EULAs like a certain software company?
4) The founder Tom friend. Oh big deal, might as well be a robot. Might as well be a IRC chat bot for all the good it does. Eliza is my friend too.
Nah, that’s default basic sense…
Real reasons?
1) Sex, Popularity Games. Bandwagon conforming to the hot trend games. But today’s hot-in-thing, it tomorrows cold winter (aka SuicideGirls).
2) It has no purpose. It doesn’t force a theme. It’s not a music site, it’s not a personals site, it’s not a social networking site, it’s not a MLM social-networking site. It’s not a “blog”, connected to an IM client (aka MS Spaces). It has no high-minded idealized Valleywaggers flipping to conferences, yelping how it’s the next big thing. It’s nothing. It becomes what the users make it.
3) Easy to create, they don’t force a design, granted it’s all flashy horrid 1996 homepage styled. HTML purists wail cry and scream, but it always sticks. Goofy graphics, stupid stuff de jour, it’s ole Web. Web .05, back when it was all a wonder. It’s Geocities with people tracking. The only way to make “Web 2.0″ work is to go back to Web .5
4) Unlike most social software things, it has a real offline component. When online directs your offline, it works better.
Friendster and all the other services were too high-minded geeky mash-up earnest, just let it flop to the base level and it catches on, for small scale demographics.
March 22nd, 2006 at 8:21 pm
“But Rupert Murdoch overspent, and the user numbers they are throwing out are seriously fuzzy accounting, eyeballs pre-dot.com style. And people go, but then never go back.”
Interesting comment Chris, have you see these links?
“Seeing Through The MySpace Mirage”
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/topnews/wpn-60-20060307SeeingThroughTheMySpaceMirage.html
“Is MySpace.com Really That Popular?”
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1650209&page=1
March 22nd, 2006 at 8:39 pm
“Victims of Scams”
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=86317
RESPONSEBASE, LLC
Number: 200113410087 Date Filed: 5/11/2001 Status: active
Jurisdiction: CALIFORNIA
Principal Address
10880 WILSHIRE BLVD.
LOS ANGELES, CA 90024
Agent for Service of Process
CHRISTOPHER DEWOLFE
http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=69630139
March 22nd, 2006 at 10:45 pm
The MySpace phenomenon has been unbelievable to watch - not only the hockey stick growth but also the way in which young people have expressed their creativity. But will they be victims of their own success? With so many profiles and no method to monitor scammers, do the users ultimately run to other services? Facebook has gained popularity because people are identified with a school and need a school email address to register. That has helped eliminate scammers on that site. One of the things we think about a lot at http://www.where.com is using the mobile phone as a way to insure a user is real. A phone number can’t be spoofed so a user who has registered their cell phone with WHERE gets additional privileges on the site and there is always a method to trace back to that user as you can’t get a cell phone without providing I.D. Will MySpace ultimately add these types of controls or will users get scared off from too many scams?
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:13 pm
A new manner to promote website using an audio message!
See http://www.annuairevocal.com
Erwan.
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:16 pm
hey bear i missed the conversation. i’ve been modeling. what’s this “pay attention to MySpace because moral outrage against MySpace will hurt all of us”?
why would there be moral outrage against myspace?
anina
March 22nd, 2006 at 11:39 pm
“why would there be moral outrage against myspace?”
Unfortunately, kids were getting raped and assaulted, and some poor souls even murdered by way of using the myspace.com website and publishing personal information that they may not have otherwise, and people wanted it to stop.
Regardless of who’s responsibility it was(most likely society’s), it doesn’t change what happened. In alot of people’s minds it’s going to be indefinately linked to the myspace name.
March 23rd, 2006 at 2:14 am
Secrets of MySpaces success: for good or evil?
This reminds me of all the uproar over violence in computer games and I see little difference here. So I have to respectfully disagree Robert, and in my view how this technology can enable or otherwise affect the fraternization of impressionable kids…
March 23rd, 2006 at 2:29 am
I also met Aber last night and had a nice talk with him. I was impressed by the lengths to which they go to prevent porn postings (all uploaded images are screened by a human).
HOWEVER, as a parent I strongly agree with critics that Myspace, and Search, and the web community at large has a MUCH greater responsibility to “protect kids” than is currently fashionable.
Partly because many “in charge” don’t have kids it’s still considered “uncool” to suggest we are failing in this respect and have this responsibility and I’d like to see that change. I see NO evidence it is changing.
March 23rd, 2006 at 3:34 am
MySpace holds no interest for me - a few of my single coworkers have described how useful it is. I’ve read many viewpoints on the popularity of the service. If MySpace isn’t a fad, then there aren’t any. I’ll admit I’ve never visted the site, don’t even know what it looks like, don’t really care. I’m sure its great for anyone who wants to follow the “pack”, sitting back from my vantage point it really just looks like a mob mentality wondering from one “cool” thing to the next. The interesting thing will be where MySpace is at in a year.
March 23rd, 2006 at 3:40 am
“I also met Aber last night and had a nice talk with him. I was impressed by the lengths to which they go to prevent porn postings (all uploaded images are screened by a human).”
What about hate groups?
This is the type of thing you can find in a quick google
search. So porn is off limits but this these type of profiles are fine?
Is this something that people want their kids getting into online?
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=37449877
http://myspace.com/WHITEPOWERGIRL88
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=34511328
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=4350851
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=50064937
These profiles may ultimately be taken down, but the reality remains that because the content is user created, they can not moderate it effectively.
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:11 am
moral outrage against MySpace will hurt all of us. I totally agree.
Interesting that you understand this, Robert, yet still continue your vitriolic crusade against Google.
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:39 am
I give it another year of popularity. Like others have said, the current population of MySpace is moving on to more adult oriented responsibilities. Other than kids who refused to grow up, how many of us held on to the things we did in high school once we graduated? And, like Chris pointed it, once it becomes popular its over, at least for that crowd. The kids coming up are not going to want to be associated with something that their older siblings thought was cool. They will want to invent their own new new thing.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:46 am
It’s interesting to note that I believe MySpace is only an American phenomenon. (Of course, if you had to pick one market to be successful in, that’d be it!)
I’m in Germany and my girlfriend has a 17 year old son. He and his clique are very computer and gaming-literate, and none of them have even heard of MySpace.
Once the popularity in the U.S. cools off, MySpace can perhaps still take off in the rest of the world.
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:08 am
Look closely at myspace. When I reviewed how it was being used by the students in my zip code, I was shocked. Ok, I wasn’t shocked.
Someone in this thread said all photos are reviewed by a person. Well, I see a lot of suggestive photos of minors in my zip code. Camera phones invite some interesting poses.
It was easy to document all the “heads” at the local high school, their circle of friends, where the weekend party is going to be, who’s sneaking out, who’s hooking up with who, etc. That was months ago, but I’m sure little has changed for the kids using it in my geography.
Most parents in my area are clueless about what a blog is, and how they are being used by the teens in my area. My teens are well versed on what is and is not allowed. That doesn’t mean they won’t test the fence, but they know I care. Taking an interest and education is key.
March 23rd, 2006 at 8:34 am
I don’t see what the big ‘Phenom’is about Myspace. The just picked up where sites like BlackPlanet.com/MiGente.com/AsianAvenue.com/http://collegeclub.com/ left off in 2000- They had millions of memebers way before Myspace was ever conceived. Props to them though for making the headway *now* and using more word of mouth to promote…but they are far from pioneers in this realm. Most likely they should be labeled as “improvers”….if that’s a word-
March 23rd, 2006 at 8:52 am
anon: what are you talking about “my attack” on Google? I don’t usually attack Google. In fact, I generally praise Google. Can you explain more?
March 23rd, 2006 at 12:44 pm
this is very goog
March 23rd, 2006 at 4:42 pm
[...] Robert Scooble has an insider scoop about how MySpace got so popular — straight from MySpace’s CTO, Aber Whitcomb. [...]
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:08 pm
Does MySpace define what a friend is? I doubt that “Tom” is my friend. A friend is someone you have known, someone you have met…NOT a stranger. The idea that a system would tell me a stranger is my friend alienates me.
March 23rd, 2006 at 7:35 pm
“[…] Robert Scooble has an insider scoop about how MySpace got so popular — straight from MySpace’s CTO, Aber Whitcomb. […]”
DECEMBER 12, 2005
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_50/b3963001.htm
“De Wolfe knew the Internet business. Anderson cajoled Hollywood friends — musicians, models, actors — to join his online community, and soon the news spread. A year later, everyone from Hollywood teen queen Hilary Duff to Plano (Tex.) teen queen Adams has an account.”
…
“When new users join, Tom becomes their first friend and invites them to send him a message.”
…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11328357/from/RL.1/
“Brad Greenspan, an early MySpace investor no longer affiliated with the site, said that after observing Friendster, “we just realized that to allow people more personalization and control would give people more attachment to their Web pages.”"
Greenspan is now suing them for insider trading with Newscorp.
http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060223-001091-1451
They also mentioned that band profiles are the reason they were so much more popular than friendster. They won’t mention the large scale spyware or the spam they ran as responsebase.com and other companies.
The point is that what Scoble got, and was completely satisfied with is the equivalent of a form letter response.
They give every one the same story and keep it straight amongst themselves. Scoble is not the type to digg deeper and get the real story.
The fact is Tom did not found myspace.com, and they have a very sordid, unpleasant history on the internet as a media company.
March 23rd, 2006 at 9:44 pm
[...] Scoble has a very interesting post on why myspace is successful. Secrets of Myspace [...]
March 23rd, 2006 at 10:13 pm
Actually the best ’social networking’ website that I have ever used is Craigslist, common interets, common products, steady supply of customers, it’s heavenly, even if too much used by the casual sex freaks, it still has other elements. Craigs beats MySpace to a punch and then some. Almost took it for granted when in California and now in my History Channel gig move to Peoria, has me in this bleak dry outlook. Peoria has to get Craigs. I can’t live in a town without Craigs almost. MySpace is faddy, Craigs is eternal (or so I hope). It’s one dot.com I’d actually send a resume to. All hail Craigs, life on the bottom of the dot.com’s is better than the upper trendy crust.
March 23rd, 2006 at 10:56 pm
“Actually the best ’social networking’ website that I have ever used is Craigslist”
Chris,
I would agree, but if you really want to see something that one could consider a shameless rip off;
Go and check out some of the classifieds on CraigsList, then check out the classifieds on the myspace.com website.
Somebody shamelessly cloned the craigslist look & feel, and functionality pretty closely.
Exibit A.
http://www.craigslist.com/
http://classifieds.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=classifieds
Exibit B.
http://www.craigslist.com/sss/
http://classifieds.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=classifieds.listAds&catId=2&localeID=1
March 24th, 2006 at 12:11 am
Connecticut Asks MySpace to Provide Blocking Software
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/03/ct_myspace.html
Here’s an interesting link from yesterday addressing some of the safety concerns from the Connecticut Attorney General’s perspective.
If their myspace.com blocking software is anything like their spyware from a couple years ago that got them sued by New York State, people are in for a nasty surprise.
March 24th, 2006 at 6:31 am
MySpace is addictive, that is how they got so many users… and there is a conspiracy MySpace Consipracy.
March 24th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
Lessons from MySpace on getting communities established
Aber Whitcomb, CTO for MySpace, revealed to Robert Scoble some of the secrets behind MySpace’s popularity. They sound similar to the advise one might give to anyone starting a community of practice. They made sure influentials…
March 25th, 2006 at 1:36 am
[...] Scoble points out a few things about MySpace’s success that he learnt by meeting its CTO. Web 2.0 companies: hint hint. [...]
March 27th, 2006 at 6:45 am
[...] Scobleizer - Microsoft Geek Blogger » Secrets behind MySpace’s success I met MySpace’s CTO, Aber Whitcomb, last night at the posh and packed MySpace party here at Mix06 and I asked him how MySpace got so popular. He cited a few things: [...]
March 28th, 2006 at 11:21 pm
Secrets behind MySpace’s success
I met MySpace’s CTO, Aber Whitcomb, last night at the posh and packed MySpace party here at Mix06 and I asked him how MySpace got so popular. He cited a few things:
March 29th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
It’s interesting to note that at least in Dallas, a majority of the students protesting immigration at city hall, organized via Myspace.
April 6th, 2006 at 2:06 am
you know with all these little stories about how myspace is doing this and doing that bla bla bla i just think its bunch of people trying to bring down a good thing, i mean its just a forum where people chat duh
April 21st, 2006 at 1:50 am
Social stumbling with MySpace
Personal ‘networking’
The ’social networking’ aspect of MySpace is too broad and non-specific. Clicking through on a band name in a profile to find thousands of other users into the same music is ridiculous, and the purpose-buil…
April 25th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
Some enlightenment might be found on how MySpace became such a success if inquiring minds were to google Alan MacLeese or Catbird Seat in the Elephant Nest. More than two weeks ago MacLeese — me — posted a claim that the MySpace power was not the cabin boys Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, but the owners, the powers in and behind the throne before the murky fire sale to Murdoch were and are: Andrew Alan Wiederhorn, disgraced Portland CEO,and his wife TIffany, and Andrews Alan’s longtime mentor and moneyman, Clarence B. (Uncle Bud) Coleman, also disgraced but about a nonaagenarian and the guy who invented data mining, well, a little hyperbole is indicated. I have been working with blogger Trent Lapinski, who first raised the question: who owns MySpace. ANd was theatened with a suit, chased off briefly, then returned to his question andnow we have an answer and your question should be, why wouldn’t andy and tiff and bud and jean want to bask in the admiration of millions for creating the largest internet social ineraction site in the known world. Because they are all disgraced? Could be. al macleese who lives in maine where life is the wasy it ought to be.
July 3rd, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Scobleizer:
Nine weeks ago I posted a lament here, wondering why the true story of MySpace’s sordid spawning and hasty selling had not been told by the print or TV media; the withheld truth being that MySpace, its parent company, Intermix, and the venture firms associated with them were owned and controlled by Andrew and Tiffany Wiederhorn, Portland Ore, and Clarence Bud Coleman and HISwife Joan, San Leandro Cal, and that these worthies had kept their involvement secret to the general public because of their notorious misadventures in predatory banking, and that, most galling of all when you think about it, put up a coupla cabin boys and baldly told us they were the geniuses responsbile for MySpace’s astoungind success. Well, it’s taken some time but ValleyWag just annuonced that blogger Trent Lapinski’s piece coming this week will blow a hole in the MySPace barge for good and several reasons. And now outlets, if I may use that expression, such as Forbes, the WSJ, the NYT, are suddenly showing an interest in the doings of MySpace, andwhile none have yet uttered the names of Wiederhorn and Coleman, the thing is all over the INternet and it will probably pop about the same time the fiecracker people get organized. Happy Fourth from Hallowell Maine, where our lobsters voluntarily leap into boilding pots so as to prevent any Hallowellians from being charged with cruelty to crustaceans.
July 10th, 2006 at 10:35 am
Al from hallowell again. I was rereading this informative chat copy and saw where Danah Boyd made the astounding statement that we should, at all costs, prevent or disdain any moral outrage aboutthe shit thaty is going at MySpace, about the louts that run it, and about the felons and spammers and connivers and predators that spawned MySpace, a Bonnie and Clyde sort of doubled down villatins: Clarence B. and Joan Coleman, Californians, and Andrew Alan and Tiffany Wiederorn, they who put the Odious in Oregon. I have huge problems with Danah Boyd, who now knows of thevillatins behind MySpace before the firesale to the cunning Foxes, yet still prattles on about how most kids don’t repond to strangers on the internet, andit is no more dangerous than city hall (in Baghdad?) and, in short, her line on MySpace is essentially the line that Dani Dudeck, MySpace flack, would take, and yet the Boyd woman could take part in a staged interview the detestable fake Irishman (probably the spawn or barbarians who invaded the Auld Sod and formincated amongs themselves, then took Irish names to gain a modicum of respectability. Yes, folks, the interview was staged, with the faux mick pretending he didn’t know much about MySpace, if anything, but then, by his very doltish questions, revealed he knows exactly about MySpace because, WTF, he takes the Murdoch schulling and if he was a true Irishman he wouldn’ta be caught dead in Murdoch’s bog, and never mind the fact that Murdoch is an Irisher, too, but shame on Danah Boyd, who sez she’s an anthropologist, but really isn’t, and seems to have become a useful idiot for the MySpace ship which, alas, is beginning to leak a few holes and if you do’t believe me hop on over to ValleyWag…al macleese from hallowell, which is holding Old Hallowell Days on the fifteenth of this very month, so come on by, see the beavers building their granite dams…
July 13th, 2006 at 10:03 am
Nr. S. It was unconsionable and even unprofessional for me to advance my theory that Fox’s faux mick, the one who bloviates with an aplomb and ease that boggles this lesser bogtrotter… but wait, the fake Irisher in the employ of the other Irisher, Murdoch, is not an Irisher, I can tell a trueborn Irishman easily because my family weas the first, or perhaps among the first few, families inIreland, andwe have been keeping records for centuries and one of the things that vastly amuses us MacLeeses is our story aboutthe Oh Reallys, a group of gypsylike folks (and this is nothing against the gypsies) began appearing in that green place acrossthe oceanwide, in about 976, and were the spawn of invaders who had come and gone, but left the most unlikely of their lot in Ireland. These people became known as the Oh Reallys because everywhere they went they lied like rugs, stole stuff, and so everytime one of them would say something to a true Gael, why the Gawl would say, “)Oh, really” with the lovable Irish sarcasm, andsoon these itineratns were known through the land in every glen and dale as Oh REallys and then some ofthe crafiers ones amng them changed their names to real Irish names, the O’Reillys, land infiltrated to gain that respectablilty that otherwise would surely elude. Ihave all the documents on this Mr. S., and my theory, which I am going to patent, cannot be discussed here but i should say that if the fake bogtrotter at Fox, the partisan news channel, would take a DNA test it might give him a chance to prove to lie to this statement, but he should understand that we have the docs. almacleese from lovelyhallowell, where there will b e dancing in the streets Friday on Old Hallowell Days, music all over the place.
July 14th, 2006 at 9:11 am
Scobie: I have this theory that the blogworld has risen up and, in its amazing collective wisdom,decided it has had enough of the bullshit dealt truthseekers in our circle, and is smiting the outfit kn own as theHole-inb-the-Heart gang (by me at least) with an awesome clap.
I started googling this morning. Igoogled Christopher T. DeWolfe, I googled Andrew ALan Widerhorn, Clarence Bud Coleman, Tom Anderson, Tiffany Wiederhorn, Ted Wiederhorn, Joan Coleman.
All these folks have been involved in dodgy stuff and four months ago you would not have learened about their dodginess by googling; all above named are the vbeneficiaries of various internet tricks to stop you from reading any bad stuff about them.
Now, all you can read is bad stuff about these people and I think that is because the Internet rose up in revulstion over the weay it had been used. Or is it just because I am closely involved and notice things and want them to be what I want them to be. B ut is odd, and it is underlined by the fact that when you sneak on over to Yahoo, why that crackerjack search engine never heard of Christopher T. DeWolfe,and Andrewe ALand Wiederhorn draws a blank too. Aks Jeeves, why not ask your brother-in-law, the one that doesn’t read much and doesn;t realize how the real Jeeves wou ld be turning over in his fictional grave at the shitty job Ask Jeeves does, although I think they dropped the Ask and have the people that run the place, I seem to suspect, don’t quote me, were big buddines with the MySpace crew that made thedirty deal that sent MySpace to the arms of Murdoch, the one who hires fake Irishmen to skew all the news you can use. Scobie, I never get a response to alll these e0mails and submissions I* am sending here and there, but I would like toask you: Am I right or are the blogs rising up in disgust against the blatant deceiv ers in their nice places in the valley> al macleese from hallowell,where today its citizens grabbed h alf theop-ed page of the Kennebec Journal to tell the KJ to stop playing nanny. You gotta read it to find out, this is what we call a teaster…
July 21st, 2006 at 1:07 am
Swingers sex
Then He slapped my ass and ordered me under the desk. It was then that I knew that this time it was going to push even my whorish limits on performing as His sex slave.
July 25th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
Mr. S: You know, you take a lot of undeserved guff from folks, but get the plaudits too, so you’re ahead of the game.
I just wanted to boast to you about my taking part in the discourse over WTF we (and yes, I do have a turd in my pocket)should call the blogging reporter who, even as we speak,is coming into his or her own, the folks who will take centerstage from institutionalized reporters, those hampered by so many barriers between their typers and their readers that most of their best disappears into the ether around the water cooler. Or is it now the latte dispenser?
Anyhow, the way I get it, the term for the new perkless reporters seems to be either citizen journalists and networking journalists, and I know you know all this but I just wanted you to know I know all this and will stand by in case you need whatever it is I might be called on a Maine story. And thanks for letting me air my views on your blog, and, now that you mention the BBC and England, did I eery tell you about howe I got hired and fire by the UPI in London on the same evening? almacleese, the one who posted earlier about how the bloviation Station’s chief gasbag, who presents himself as an Irish person, is oot an Irish person at all, and if the man will lie about his ancestry, to what levels wil he stoop. Almac from Hallowell across the Kennebec River from CHelsea.
August 9th, 2006 at 9:50 pm
Mr. S:
I see by your blog that you are on a hiatus,but I have news of import and so intrude. My partner-in-virtue in investigatin MySpace, L.A. blogger Trent Lapinksi, e-mailed me Saturday last to say that his article on MySpace, an expose, which was all set for publication, was killed by his publisher (I do not know who publisher was) because of threats of a shitstorm of suits by Rupert Murdoch’s minions. So now Trent has been paid in full by the affronted outlet, and has a bulletproof expose but no publisher. Trent, who just turned 20, took some of the money and ran to the Caribbean to regird his loins, but promises to return within the week and has talked with CNet, Wired and the L.A. Times about publication of his expose, and he doesn’t know I am saying this but I mention it in honor of the transparency that seems to make this Internet thing work. Anyhow, movers and shakers on the web should know, I think, that a gallant young journo, perhaps a David, is being menaced by a Goliath, suppressed by a billionaire, if you will, which is ungood, PR-wise, one would think, but then thousandpoundgorillasprollydon’tgiveacare, Hallowellpenpal
August 12th, 2006 at 2:10 am
Mr. S:
L.A. blogger Trent Lapinski, 19 and a collegian, posted this dispatch on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006 at 1:06 a.m. under the heading:
‘WTF: Why doesn’t anyone ask who actually runs MySpace?’ And there was this subhede:
‘After reading about a recent MySpace censorship ploy, it boggles my mind as to why no one asks who the heck actually runs this site.’
After noting that Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe are the nominal props of the place, Trent wrote:
“MySpace is now just over two years old and is one of the biggest websites on the Internet. Yet no one knows where or how it came to be. Isn’t it of millions of people’s concern to know who runs the website they confide in so much …”
“(Updated) I just wish someone besides me, preferably with a newspaper or legal team behind them, would break the full story…”
So now, Trent has written the full story, but it was squelched at one publication after threats of suits for a month of Sundays by the estimable Australian, who may be a secret pommy. So today, eight months after Trent’s initial plea, the MSM still hasn’t deigned to notice the curious circumstances of the sale of Intermix and MySpace to the Murdoch interests, the handing off of a hot tater by shadowy folks named Wiederhorn and COleman, Portland Ore and San Leandro Cal, and the reason their names haven’t hit the mainstream in connection with a site that boasts a hundred million members, many of them children of your children, no doubt, all romping about in a site that has provided plenty of sore eyes.
So, today the hede, is:
“WTF: Why doesn’t anyone ask who actually runs MySpace?’
almac, hallowell, the jewel in the hook of the Kennebec.
except f the MSM
August 15th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
The problem with myspace is the wierdos. That’s why I prefer Schlogger, it is a social networking service for college, and university communities in the United States and the United Kingdom. http://www.schlogger.com
August 15th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
http://www.schlogger.com/‘rel=’follow’
September 10th, 2006 at 10:17 am
[...] Here is Robert Scoble’s post based on a conversation with MySpace CTO Aber Whitcomb (March 2006) [...]
September 11th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
This is very accurate. Users like to feel like they have some say in the development of a project. Although, sometimes you can’t do EVERYTHING that users suggeset. MySpace did a good job of filtering out the changes that will accomodate for the majority of users, rather than just a couple nit picky ones.
September 14th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
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October 25th, 2006 at 2:50 am
[...] Here is Robert Scoble’s post based on a conversation with MySpace CTO Aber Whitcomb (March 2006) [...]
November 7th, 2006 at 3:03 am
Hey if you’re a loser that has no success online…I mean, if you’ve tried absolutely everything…Ross Jeffries, David D, Neil Strauss, Mystery, etc…all the seduction BS…and you’re FED UP, then try this: http://www.myspacepickupguide.com/
It’s written by REAL players, who get REAL pussy on Myspace…and they show you step by step how to do it.
I don’t know about you but Ross Jeffries sort of looks like a child molester, and David D looks like a pedo. Keep paying them thousands of dollars to give you dating advice…when’s the last time you saw them with a hot babe? LOL.
When you’ve come to your senses, check out http://www.myspacepickupguide.com/ …it’s free for 30 days
peace
January 6th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
There’s something to be said about a place where you can build a profile and be anyone or anything you want to be.
As the creator of http://www.myspacemastership.com/ and a legend on MySpace with thousands of friends from all over the world, I’ll be the first one to admit the place has its risks… On the flip side, it can also be an incredibly beneficial tool with relatively low risk to use if you follow certain safety rules.
MySpace is the ultimate viral experiment and every day I am amazed at how this just keeps growing.
For those who want to reel it in and tone down the site, I would be very interested in seeing what kind of repercussions putting on some brakes on the site would have.
As someone who spends an obscene amount of time on MySpace, all I can say is catch up with this platform and learn to embrace it as I do not foresee it going anywhere soon.
For the best instructional guide and tool set on how to master MySpace, check out the best selling membership site http://www.myspacemastership.com
Your friend,
His Mastership
George Levy
June 11th, 2007 at 7:29 am
[...] http://scobleizer.com/2006/03/22/secrets-behind-myspaces-success/ [...]
September 9th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
[...] MySpace got cool musicians in Los Angeles to use it. That’s why I heard about MySpace. [...]
September 19th, 2007 at 6:56 am
I like MySpace a lot, but I really don’t like the IM client. Instead I use the eBuddy client at http://www.ebuddy.com. It’s very easy to use, everywhere available and you can even use different chats (like MSN, AOL, Yahoo, AIM, MySpace etc). Also on your mobile :) Highly recommended!
October 9th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
[...] of the most successful high growth online publishers in the past year, from MySpace to Perez Hilton, has well utilized identity and personality to attract attention and thus traffic. [...]
January 26th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
well myspace is kida like a fun place for teenagers not for me even though i have my on pg./.