Archive for Social Media

MySpace… Where Did It All Go Wrong?

// January 13th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Social Media

This blog post started out as a very bloated comment I was going to leave on a blog post that reported that top MySpace execs have confirmed that it’s parent company NewsCorp. is looking for a buyer for the once-great social network. Although this is somewhat predictable news given the current state of the company, I have to admit it still saddens me a bit. Myspace in it’s heyday (2004 – 2006) was for many (myself included) a great experience. Some of you out there have it ALL wrong when it comes to what killed MySpace. It wasn’t the highly personalized profile pages that killed them. In fact that was their strength. It became cool to know HTML to create the “perfect” profile page just the way you wanted. Myspace was actually teaching people basic coding! That my friends was awesome even if some of the profiles went a bit overboard with animated gifs. In fact I dare say that MySpace was empowering on many levels because you could truly create something that was an expression of who you felt you were. You’re only limitation was your skill.

Let’s keep things in context… What killed MySpace was that is became labeled a haven for predators and stalkers. It never really recovered from the media onslaught that came after the tragic Cyber-Bullying and Suicide of Megan Drew (2006) that grabbed the Nation’s attention. It was a cautionary tale and I think it made almost all of us new to the emerging social media phenomena stop down and take pause. The tragedy caught not only MySpace but law enforcement flat-footed and because neither had a good way of dealing with this type of incident the resulting outrage was tremendous. In contrast at the time there was upstart Facebook which was totally locked down with a very limited number of users and a very controlled way to join the site. It seemed to be the answer to many for the chaos that Myspace had become. The exclusivity factor of gaining membership through people you knew only added fuel to the fire of curiosity about what was going on “over there”.

I could dig deeper here as to additional causes of MySpace’s fall from grace but ultimately it just became a very uninteresting place to be. In addition there were things about being on MySpace that anyone would grow weary of after an extended amount of time (the continual onslaught of spam and bots to name a few). It’s just so sad, the company has tried to keep it’s users and to remain relevant but ultimately it was doomed to fail. I hope that the employees recently laid off all land on their feet and find the next big thing.

Yes I Am a Geek!

// September 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Life, Social Media

If you know me well you already know that I am a bit of a geek, however I am going to proudly declare that for the rest of you that don’t. The other day I received this T-Shirt and some schwag from Matt Mullenweg. Matt is the founding developer of WordPress the powerful content management system that powers this blog and many, many sites on the net. Needless to say when this package arrived I was like a kid on Christmas! I am such a huge fan of WordPress and the software has enabled me to do so many different things that just a few years ago I wouldn’t have thought possible. I run my own WordPress servers and the sheer freedom of that is amazing.

Thank you to Matt and all the developers of WordPress! I believe the software will one day rule the world (or at least the Internet)! ;-)

Checking-In?

// August 5th, 2010 // No Comments » // Social Media

I have a confession… I am such the geek. I will try every new technology, join every new site, and try every new web 2.0 service just to stay on top of what’s new. When location based Social Networking took off I immediately jumped on the big three players in the game: Foursquare, Brightkite, and Gowalla. These three services are accessible through a combination of their websites and smart phone applications (apps); You take them with you on the go. Here is my version of a cheat sheet so you know the basics about each of the three:


Brightkite was one of the first big players in this space and has a LOT of social features (most you will not use). Unfortunately Brightkite did not incorporate a game-style interface like Foursquare or Gowalla did so it didn’t have a mechanism in place to attract users to keep up with their check-ins.

Foursquare is the clear winner in the social/location space. It’s strong suit is that it encourages check-ins with a game-like interface. In addition there are easy ways for real-world businesses to tie into Foursquare through contests and promotions. The downside to Foursquare is that there are ways to cheat the service and check-in to places when you are not actually there. This had led to HIGHLY contentious Mayorships (the highest possible Foursquare achievement) among users.


Gowalla is one of the new kids on the block and my personal favorite. Gowalla is a lot like Foursquare with a similar game interface, the difference is that Gowalla tries to make it harder to cheat the system. You have to be in close physical proximity to a location to actually check-in. I like Gowalla a lot, it’s badges and awards are simply more fun. The iPhone version of the app is also the best of the three. Unfortunately because it is new there are not a lot of users there yet.





That’s the down and dirty about the big three services, but what do you do if you are like me and use all three? The good folks ate Brightkite have responded to the lagging popularity of their app and launched a multiple check-in service, Check.In

You can use this web application to check-in to the big three and more all at the same time, a huge time saver. My only gripe is that it is a web only app and a bit sluggish. Hopefully there will be phone native apps in the future that will make checking-in a zippier process. The next time you are out give it a try and let me know what you think.