Back in 2003, an old friend of mine Tommy, from the 90's LA rock scene, emailed me an invite to join Friendster. I was like, huh? What is this? Some high school "Click"? Which frankly, I was very much anti and against. But, within a few months, several friends of mine in LA began joining in rapid numbers. So, I reluctantly signed up...and eventually, like everyone else, was addicted. Friendster was like the fun rich kid in school who would pay for all the nights out on town, and the boating trips to the lake. Then it was clear he wasn't really that cool. Then a new kid from California moved to the neighborhood with Vans shoes, a skateboard, and a Black Flag cassette. This was Myspace to all of us. We all abandoned our brief encounter with Friendster and joined the new Myspace in droves. Myspace was fresh, cool bells and whistles and spoke more of our language. Then coolness got better when they catered to all the indie bands allowing artists to post songs, photos and performance dates. All was going well until the Faux News head and staunch republican Rupert Murdoch tossed his coins into the mix. I knew instantly that this would not bode well for the millions of anti Bush, forward thinkers who were calling Myspace home several hours per day. I could feel the coolness factor declining...and the fact that Myspace began appealing more towards wannabe hookers and perverts using the network as a sophisticated Craigslist styled hook-up service, made it less cool as a friends club.
Soon after, I would begin to ignore my personal Myspace page and focus on my music business page, and scout bands using Myspace Music as an effective search tool for new music. Then came along another rich kid to our school...and he was cool. This was Facebook. As soon as the non-academic web socialites were allowed to join Facebook, we did in large numbers. Within months nearly every single friend and business colleague had a Facebook page. That was 2006. Now Rupert and his Mace Space have chased off nearly half of it's users, and the other half, rarely to never log in. Myspace is now old news and part of the history books.
Here is a fantastic article about the rise and decline of Myspace.
http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article1974889.html
Had to get political didn't ya.
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