[Infowarrior] - MySpace Restrictions Upset Some Users

[Richard Forno]

MySpace Restrictions Upset Some Users

By BRAD STONE
Published: March 20, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/20/technology/20myspace.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Some users of MySpace feel as if their space is being invaded.

MySpace, the Web¹s largest social network, has gradually been imposing
limits on the software tools that users can embed in their pages, like music
and video players that also deliver advertising or enable transactions.

At stake is the ability of MySpace, which is owned by the News Corporation,
to ensure that it alone can commercially capitalize on its 90 million
visitors each month.

But to some formerly enthusiastic MySpace users, the new restrictions hamper
their abilities to design their pages and promote new projects.

³The reason why I am so bummed out about MySpace now is because recently
they have been cutting down our freedom and taking away our rights slowly,²
wrote Tila Tequila, a singer who is one of MySpace¹s most popular and
visible users, in a blog posting over the weekend. ³MySpace will now only
allow you to use ŒMySpace¹ things.²

Ms. Tequila, born Tila Nguyen, has attracted attention by linking to more
than 1.7 million friends on her MySpace page. To promote her first album,
she recently added to her MySpace page a new music player and music store,
called the Hoooka, created by Indie911, a Los Angeles-based start-up
company.

Users listened to her music and played the accompanying videos 20,000 times
over the weekend. But the Hoooka disappeared on Sunday after a MySpace
founder, Tom Anderson, personally contacted Ms. Tequila to object, according
to someone with direct knowledge of the dispute. She then vented her
thoughts on her personal blog.

MySpace says that it will block these pieces of third-party software ‹ also
called widgets ‹ when they lend themselves to violations of its terms of
service, like the spread of pornography or copyrighted material. But it also
objects to widgets that enable users to sell items or advertise without
authorization, or without entering into a direct partnership with the
company.

A MySpace spokeswoman said yesterday that the service did not remove
anything from Ms. Tequila¹s page. ³A MySpace representative contacted her
and told her that she had violated our terms of service in regards to
commercial activity,² the spokeswoman said. ³She removed the material
herself, after realizing it was not appropriate for MySpace.²

Ms. Tequila and her representatives would not comment.

But Justin Goldberg, chief executive of Indie911, said MySpace¹s actions
undercut the notion that the social networks¹ users have complete creative
freedom. ³We find it incredibly ironic and frustrating that a company that
has built its assets on the back of its users is turning around and telling
people they can¹t do anything that violates terms of service,² he said.

³Why shouldn¹t they call it FoxSpace? Or RupertSpace?² Mr. Goldberg said,
referring to the News Corporation¹s chief, Rupert Murdoch.

The tussle between MySpace and Indie911 underscores tensions between
established Internet companies and the latest generation of Web start-ups.
Without a critical mass of visitors to their sites, many of these smaller
companies are devising strategies that involve clamping on to sites like
MySpace and Facebook and trying to make money off their traffic.

MySpace, meanwhile, is trying to show that it can generate stable revenue.
Google will pay it at least $900 million over the next three years to serve
ads to the site¹s users. And last fall, MySpace announced a partnership with
Snocap, a San Francisco-based company, to sell music.

Perhaps not coincidentally, this year, MySpace blocked widgets from Revver,
a video-sharing site that embeds advertisements in its clips, and Imeem, a
music buying service.

³Our users weren¹t happy,² said Dalton Caldwell, Imeem¹s chief executive,
who was nevertheless ambivalent about the MySpace ban because he thought the
move might encourage his users to visit his site directly. ³If MySpace isn¹t
really Œtheir space¹ after all, maybe users will think about things
differently.²

In the past, MySpace executives have said that the service failed to block
companies like YouTube that began successful businesses from MySpace¹s
pages.

³We probably should have stopped YouTube,² Michael Barrett, chief revenue
officer for Fox Interactive Media, a part of the News Corporation, said in
an interview in late February. ³YouTube wouldn¹t exist if it wasn¹t for
MySpace. We¹ve created companies on our back.²

MySpace and its corporate parent say they want to find ways to support and
exploit the growing widget economy. Last year, Fox Interactive Media
introduced a service called Spring Widget. The service provides tools to
help developers create widgets for use both on computer desktops and online
networks like MySpace.

In a recent use of its technology, the studio behind the horror film ³Dead
Silence² used a Spring Widget tool on its promotional MySpace page to count
down the minutes until the film¹s release.

Fred Wilson, a New York-based venture capitalist who invests in social media
companies, said the strategy showed that the News Corporation was trying to
take advantage of growing interest in widgets while also trying to carefully
control what made it onto MySpace.

But that could be a dangerous strategy, Mr. Wilson said.

³Every attempt everyone has ever made to try to dictate what a person¹s
Internet experience will be has ended up coming up empty,² he said. ³You
have to accept the fact that you are never going to be the be-all and
end-all of everyone¹s experience. They are one click away from everyone else
on the Web.²

As for Ms. Tequila, who wrote on her blog that she was a personal friend of
Mr. Anderson, the MySpace co-founder, she wrote that she felt bad about
blasting the site but that she could not stay silent.

³You guys used to be so cool,² she wrote of MySpace. ³Don¹t turn into a
corporate evil monster.²

Louise Story contributed reporting.
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