This question is for the hip kids among you.
The other day I'm lurking on MySpace as I do from time to time, checking up on the nieces and nephews back in the home country, when I get an error message whilst searching for the eldest.
I never bothered bookmarking his page, just always look him up by name; but this time, no dice.
Obviously I have other ways of contacting kith and kin, but when I got the error message my first thought was, "Ah; maybe he's cancelled his account or moved on to Facebook." Of course he could have simply changed his searchability settings to avoid being found by aunties, uncles and other undesirables. But the fact that my first thought was that he'd cancelled his account, meant that my second thought was, "Is MySpace done?"
You have to admit the site is just a little bit 2004, punk-rocker-with-flowers-in-my-hair. We're all a bit wise now to the ways of seemingly innocent, amateur, DIY ingénue singer-songwriters. The bloom even seems to have worn off ol' Lily Allen (cheeky thing, isn't she, and catchy tunes, but Gentle Reader will understand if her line, "Just cos you're old you think you're wise" grates on our nerves a bit).
That said, I'm actually a fan of Miss Allen. But now that she's launched herself I think she'd better come up with a new record, or she'll go the way of Sandi Thom. And my nephew.
Where the sam hill is he, anyway?
Anecdotal evidence to support a statistical hypothesis?
Posted by: | Thursday, 01 February 2007 at 22:46
Before I answer these serious charges of crimes against methodology, I assert my right to face my accuser.
What about the Sixth Amendment? Section Seven / Eleven?
Pray show thyself...
Posted by: Auntie Shell | Friday, 02 February 2007 at 11:12
That missing nephew...need any help finding him? I've picked up some pretty useful stalking techniques in recent weeks. Only to be used for purposes of the common good, mind you. :)
As to the usefulness, hotness, coolness, etc. of MySpace in general, I can say the young folk still flock to it, the ones I know anyway, my son included (still gotta stalk him). And yes, it's use in their hands can still get out of hand.
As for me, I've been a MySpace subscriber for only a year. Yes a latecomer. I must say, I'd really miss it if it died off. I mean where else could I go to find out tidbits about artists such as tour dates, who's in the studio and where, when the next release is coming out, Cortney Tidwell doing an in-store at Grimey's in Nashville on 2/17, Tahiti 80's Playboy t-shirt, the death of Rachael Yamagata's cat Henry, Megan McCauley's latest rant, etc. And all in one place!
One other use, one that has emerged recently for me, is keeping up with friends, really just one in particular. This friend is traversing the country in a 1957 Greyound conversion bus and is using his MySpace blog to chronicle his journey. And now that he's lost his cell phone, MySpace will be the primary way for me to communicate with him.
I do hate the interface...I'd say pre-2004. When comparing it to the likes of last.fm or flickr, it's apparent the MySpace folks need to go back to the drawing board. Will they? I hope so.
I say "Long Live MySpace!"
Posted by: Bearden | Saturday, 03 February 2007 at 17:45
Okay, you've convinced me! MySpace is still alive and well; case closed. Now I'm off, to find out who the hell Megan McCauley is...
Posted by: mhefflin | Sunday, 04 February 2007 at 13:29
myspace never was "hip" to start with
realistically it was just a space where I simply failed to show up. hence it was never MY space to begin with
Posted by: dr_gonzo | Saturday, 10 February 2007 at 01:36