Slashdot Mirror
The MySpace Generation
theodp writes "They live online. They buy online. They play online. Their power is growing. BusinessWeek reports on The MySpace Generation, aka Generation @, for whom being online is a way of life. Preeminent among the virtual hangouts is MySpace.com, who boasts 40 million members and claimed the No. 15 spot on the entire U.S. Internet. And in When murder hits the blogosphere, MSNBC reports on MySpace's sometimes surreal role in popular news stories."
I've been trying to write an article about MySpace for about 6 months, with the community changing faster than I can assimilate those changes into the article. MySpace is the ultimate free market in socializing, and it (or a system like it) has potential to being a huge part of every day life.
All my teen employees in my retail stores are on MySpace. Most of my adult employees are, as well. At first, the dame and I thought it was just a hook up scene (it is, though). We were laughing at how we knew some parents of kids on there who thought their kids were 100% puritan, and the messages led us to believe the opposite. The average poster also leads me to reinforce my belief that the laws against non-violent voluntary action between two humans (drug laws, prostitution laws and others) are completely unnecessary.
MySpace's greatest potential is beyond just the ability to moderate other people. MySpace offers everyone this amazing ability to be open about themselves, reduce embarassment, and even become more honest as a person. When I was in high school, cheating on your girlfriend was common, but secret. Today it is called hooking up and generally not frowned upon. Is this the direction society needs to head? I don't know, but I don't think this "freeing" of embarassment is a bad thing -- isn't sex always the leader in a societal change?
MySpace is powerful in many other ways, connecting cliques with one another to create what is one of the most powerful non-corporate marketing forces ever. My brother's band increased downloads of their music almost 100-fold, and their concerts are significantly more populated by people who are friends-of-friends-of-friends. I also have found that kids as young as 11 won't buy Sony because their clique is connected to another clique that is boycotting the company. How awesome is that?
Right now, MySpace is complete anarchy. Guess what? It works. For an anarchocapitalist such as myself, MySpace combined with eBay could be the utopian anarchist paradise we always dream of, at least in electronic form. Copyright is not a concern (have you seen the reckless abandon of music, video and image piracy? I love it). Sharing of information is open and natural. If someone hurts another person in any way, you can be sure that it will get through all the various local cliques and the offender will be castigated and watched more closely. Even peer review of one's actions is instant. One person can post an angry comment about another, and the "jury of one's peers" comes into action, either defending that person or realizing that the person is probably guilty of the action first posted.
I know that when I was a teenager there were numerous things to be embarassed of. If I had known that others existed with similar emotions or thoughts or habits, I think I would have matured at a faster past (although it can be argued that today's teenageres are very immature but I completely disagree).
MySpace is a profitable venture, slowly taking the place of schools, the law, the mall and even e-mail and IM. Parents need to be aware of it, too. I believe that those who think we need more government in our lives should carefully watch as the next generation gets along just fine, pushing together their millions of decisions and beliefs in the free markets trumping of democracy.
With these freaks that post online all day, with their little friends, and their little hobbies that most people don't care about.
I'm glad I'm a part of a place like Slashdot that doesn't have any of that.
Previous generations got entire words to their name. At least some of us got letters (Generation X is cool). But you kids today have been reduced to punctuation. At least you're better than Generation colon.
Hope you like giving away your hard-earned works for free to Fox.
From the TOS: By posting Content on any public area of MySpace.com, you automatically grant as well as represent and warrant that you have the right to grant to MySpace.com, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, and distribute such information and content to MySpace.com and that MySpace.com has the right to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.
Check out my website: Playfully Clever
If you were to surf myspace you would think every teenager on earth is a complete fucking moron. DON'T mod me troll. Look for yourself.
Backrounds, stupid text colors, backround music, animations, inability to use the english language, and much more. I don't think I can express in words how worried I am at the stupidity of the comming generation.
Myspace Suicide
BusinessWeek reports on The MySpace Generation, aka Generation @
Since when did the MySpace l4mers get op status?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
People try to put us d-down (Talkin' 'bout my space)
Just because we get around (Talkin' 'bout my space)
Things they do look awful c-c-cold (Talkin' 'bout my space)
I hope I die before I get old (Talkin' 'bout my space)
Why don't you all f-fade away (Talkin' 'bout my space)
And don't try to dig what we all s-s-say (Talkin' 'bout my space)
I'm not trying to cause a big s-s-sensation (Talkin' 'bout my space)
I'm just talkin' 'bout my g-g-g-generation (Talkin' 'bout my space)
This is my space
This is my space, baby
Generation whatever articles. It seems they always want to neatly compartmentalize people's behavior by their age group though I know 40+ years old totally connected to the net and that my teenage nephews who hardly go on or know anything about it.
The article seems to be treating all this stuff as new when much of it's been around for a good while. Next, they will be gushing about how people use newfangled email over snailmail. The only message here is that people tend to communicate with the best medium for them which is nothing new.
Other on line communities with less restrictive requirements are springing up and gaining ground on MySpace. Frankly, I find the whole eletronic thing to be a bit frightening. Hear me out before you mod me down! Nothing digital happens without leaving traces. As the public library in Philadelphia who's fighting with the FBI over one of their "Letters of National Security". It becomes all too easy to obtain records of who did what and who said what. Anonymity is a big part of what makes the internet go 'round and if you take that away, all you have left is what we have in real space now. A bunch of folks with ideas but too afraid to voice them.
2 cents,
Queen B
HDGary secures my bank
I use MySpace regularly, mostly to meet chicks in my area (and it doesn't work all that well, but it's free), but I don't trust the site to hold a lot of formal personal information about me; just informal stuff.
Fox purchased MySpace, and I wish it was someone else like Google. The site is a mess with all sorts of useability and performance problems. It would be nice if someone just setup a good new framework for it, and then "imported" everyone's crap into it. The current MySpace framework is like some student's school project grown out-of-control. Maybe it is.
So anyways, it's really 'Not My Space' for a lot of people. Just a place to waste time. I wouldn't expect it to become somemore more than that.
Teenagers ARE fucking morons.
When i was a teen, i also heard trashy music, also had cheesy jet-fighter posters in my room and wasnt known for my social skills. And the others in my class werent better, either.
The only thing thats different is that with the internet, occasionally older non-parent people stumble upon this stuff, which just didnt happen before the internet.
I am sure if you go offline to an event thats REALLY in in the 12-15 age group, you wouldnt find a much different picture. But you wouldnt go there, while online, its just a click away...
HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
Not that this guy was the first to postulate that interconnectedness would change culture irrevocably in the near-future timeframe either. But I think the essay linked above cuts a little closer to the core issue; Businessweek just now caught on to what has been a rolling snowball in the internet world for what, 4 years now?
Performing sanity checks on your own beliefs is vital in avoiding poisoned koolaid.
MySpace is the worst thing to happen to the internet since it's inception. Think of the bandwidth! OH THE HUMANITY!!
I am 26. When people my age were kids they had TV. Television is a one way medium where people are told how to look , how to talk, how to think. Think of the MTV generation.
Today, at last, kids have a better freedom of the press than we did. They can give back to the system instead of just listening silently. And they have so many more channels to chose from, some made by their peers instead of by the big media corporations.
What they say will be childish, stupid and uninformed. Just like the things we used to say when we were their age. But at least they will have an outlet to do so.
I drink to the @ generation. And to the generation before, thank you for making this possible.
Cheers,
Adolfo
PS. Remember when using computers was social suicide?
It's widely known that sites such as MySpace and the forums at GameFAQs.com are "infested" with teens who would appear to lack basic textual communication skills.
Have any researchers who study education performed reviews of such sites? How do such children and teens perform in high school? Is their inability to write sensibly only exhibited online, or does it also creep into their school work?
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
but I had to go check my MySpace.
Of course, I also think that the people on IMs who only have local people on their lists have no respect for the medium.. I had friends that nonchalantly logged into other people's accounts to propagate lies, create fights and stir tensiosn up, with the whole thing being a joke they can clear up with a face to face meeting... Some of us with friends on other continents don't have that luxury, and I don't appreciate that sort of immaturity. Not that that's everyone of course, just one example of why (what seems to me) a vast majority of teengers who just use the net to talk with local friends may not respect the medium as much as those who do use it to create a smaller world.
On a more positive note, I can foresee one thin coming from myspace that oculd have a huge impact on the net as a whole. Blogging is a huge topic right now.. and, in some ways, part of the popularity of blogs might be pinned on things like Livejournals. While occasionally used for the typical teen angsting and drama that we may not consider an advantage to society, the sort of wide teenage base acceptance of these might have led to more acceptance of the 'True' blogs that sprang up afterwords. Maybe Myspace will spawn something simmilar, in the sense of another generation of large, widely used communities. After all, if myspace's layout does offer some advantage or revolution, I'd hate to think that Murdoch is making money off of it.
The reason I still use it is because my friends there use it more than lj or other communities.
... would u sooo do the person above me.." and other silly bulletins that I could not give a shit at all about.
I try to filter as many friends requests as possible to those who are older 23+. But still I see comments like "OMG
I would leave if I could. I guess I need more real life friends closer to home and less online.
http://saveie6.com/
2ch (2 channel) is a Japanese forum (more similar to slashdot then typical forums) that has over 10 million members from all different walks of life (not mainly teenagers like myspace). There is a US variant (an imitation not related directly or anywhere near as popular) 4ch that gives a good idea of the format. It's an interesting concept due to it's broadness in topics and people who use it. Although myspace seems to be pretty popular with people who aren't computer experts.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
... and you thought AOL was the worst it could get!
I am Spartacus
... to change the TOS at any time, unilaterally (from Section 2):
:-p
"Even after membership is terminated, this Agreement will remain in effect, including sections 4, 5, 7 and 9-14. MySpace.com's Terms of Use and/or subscription fees that were provided to you at registration may change from time to time. By using the Service and by becoming a Member, you acknowledge that MySpace.com reserves the right to charge for the Service and has the right to terminate a Member's Membership should Member breach this Agreement or fail to pay for the Service, as required by this Agreement."
So who says they won't "pull the trigger" and try to claim rights (even retroactively)?
Hmm... so what's to say they won't suddenly change Section 5 to say "exclusive, in perpetuity rights to all material, even after you leave My Space"? If your novel/mp3/scientific breakthrough is online when they make the change to the TOS, it'll already be too late.
I'm not saying they'd necessarily do this, but it's possible. Better to keep your stuff off of Fox's servers.
ERROR 144 - REBOOT ?
I live my life online and I wouldn't be found dead at my space. The Myspace crowd are the emo attenction whores who make the most notice. The majority who "live online" are average geeks who perfer their own company and enjoy reading wikipedia and slashdot. But these people don't gather in huge numbers in a forum sort of way (Slashdot is close I guess), so theres no way to record them.. but please for the love of God don't lump me in with these guys.
I like muppets.
For the most part, there aren't any "generations" at all. Corporate types have been at this for decades... when a new demographic trend gets strong enough to become a profitable market segment, package it up with a nice easy-to-understand label like "Generation Y", then start blitzing them with messaging telling them how they behave, what they like, and which companies really get them. It's kind of like moving a new product from the early-adopter phase to the mainstream, except you're the product and someone else makes all the money.
What about World of Warcraft and the burgeoning MMORPG space? There are 5.5 million subscribers to WoW, and in total, maybe 20 million people who play these MMORPGs worldwide, from games like Lineage to EverQuest.
I don't think myspace deserves to be associated with a "generation" because myspace hasn't generated its own unique subculture. And it's not really a "generation" as a large portion of the traffic on myspace is by older men looking for skanks.
The WoW and gamer culture, on the other hand, has its own languages and inside jokes. Plus guilds are way more cohesive than these loose organizations or "networks."
I'm creating a social network just for gamers, and WoW players specifically right now: Leetster. This is a link to my profile: pakhuda
Philosophistry
i'm kind of bothered about all these comments worrying about the coming generation because of myspace brainfodder
depending on how old you are, should we judge you on your graffiti from the 1980s or what you carved in your desk in the 1960s?
are you serious? you have a poor, dim view of history
you see a frightening loosening of standards over time before you. it is a false perception, relax
you suffer from historical myopia
there is nothing new under the sun, only dumb teenagers being dumb teenagers, as they did in 4000 BC, as they will do in 4000 AD
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Myspace, proving that no one can ever figure out the timer mode on their cameras.
Myspace is a club. And just like real world clubs, its popularity will be transient. In 3 years, there will be some other Internet social scene that will dominate. And 3 years from then, another one. The existence of this BusinessWeek article alone makes myspace that much less cooler to be on. Remember Friendster? That was becoming like what myspace was, until myspace became cooler. Now Friendster's going bankrupt.
Communication tools, on the other hand, stick around. Look at AOL Instant Messenger. Crappy tool, but still the most popular. I even think facebook will survive this social networking service bubble. Facebook is also like a tool in that it functions as your school's better yearbook/directory.
Quality tools and services are long-term. Clubs and social scenes are ephemeral.
Philosophistry
Judging by how readily they'll buy the RIAA's latest shit albums for $20 a pop and how they'll click next through their EULAs faster than an AC posting a stupid fad joke on Slashdot, I'd have to say that they definitely are used to giving away their rights. If they gave a damn about their rights, we wouldn't have nearly as much shit we deal with these days...
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
'X' was named that because either nobody could think of a name, or nobody 'got' us. There's no need too use a 'y' designation other than it follows after 'x', but that just denote lazyness.
It would be more honest too name generations by world/national economic/political gain/loss. For instance, there is the 'Lost Generation' (yes, I know it formally pertains too writers in the early 1900s, but it's been broadly applied), but what makes them the 'Lost Generation' could be applied too several generations that came before them, and perhaps too the current generation that seems too be holding the limelight. Things tend to follow cycles, and a lot of it just happens over and over again when the previous generation(s) have forgotten about what went on before. Fashion, for instance, comes full circle about every 27 years. Broad generational attitudes could come full circle every 100 years or more.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
samy is my hero.
In general, it is safe and legal to kill your children. -- POSIX Programmer's Guide
I've been on MySpace for just about 2 weeks now, after first regarding the site as an jumble of crappy pages a few months ago, I've learned it can be a very unique and enjoyable place for the average computer user or guru both. A few notes:
The code is buggy as can be but primarily works after reloading the page a couple of times.
Great social networking factor. I've messaged friends I haven't talked to since high school and chatted with college friends whom I've already lost touch with.
For new bands this is really an invaluable resource for which to create a simple website that informs fans and create evangelists of your music.
Being a part time concert photographer I've already received orders for prints of my photography as well as met may others involved or wishing to be involved in the field. I've also made contacts with a number of bands and old friends involved in the music industry whom I've also been out of touch with.
I wish Google would have purchased the company, but let's hope Fox does a decent job with it.
Try it out, you just might like it
-Chris
http://www.myspace.com/concertphotos
1) There are so many low-class/stupid/aesthetically-challenged/offensiv e-in-some-other-way people on MySpace and I can't stand that.
2) MySpace is mostly populated by teenagers, and this particular batch of teenagers is so much worse than teenagers from my generation.
3) MySpace is ripping off the people who use it, through TOS that allow MySpace to profit from content created by MySpace denizens.
4) The content on MySpace is total crap. There's nothing of value on MySpace. Ten thousand monkeys could create better content.
The "I can't stand the people on MySpace" response is similar to the bitching and moaning about blogging, which comes up on Slashdot constantly these days. On the one hand, Slashdotters are happy to carry the torch of freedom, demanding that Big Media should no longer control us, that TV should get hit with a clue stick, and so on. Yet when a community does spring up and people of all kinds, the unwashed digital masses, get on board, it freaks out a lot of Slashdotters. This is so reminiscent of the "if you don't know how to run UNIX, you shouldn't be doing things on the Internet" attitude so prevalent among alpha-geeks in the mid 1990s. The Internet shouldn't just be for geeks, any more than athletics should just be for jocks, or beaches should just be for beautiful people.
Not everyone on MySpace is a teenager. But people seem hungup on the large number of teens on MySpace. Teenagers are teenagers are teenagers are teenagers. My father's generation was the one that screwed up the Vietnam War and turned the whole nation upside down. When they started causing trouble in the early 60s, they were the scourge of America. They turned out ok. A bit self-righteous, but ok. ;-) My generation was described as a bunch of shiftless slackers when we were teens. We had no soul, no drive, no moral compass, and nothing to contribute to society. Somehow that opinion changed when we hit the workforce in big numbers and contributed to the boom in the Information Economy. The teenagers of today are obsessed with the superficial, spoiled, and unconnected to reality. I'm sure by the time they reach their 20s and 30s, they'll somehow magically be transformed into good citizens. Funny how that works, isn't it?
The using MySpace are just like any slice of a given population. Some of them have interesting things to say and some of them don't. Some of them are creative and others aren't too imaginative. Maybe the venue attracts one type of person more than another, but generalizing about content on MySpace, even if the generalization is correct, doesn't mean that there's nothing of value on MySpace.
As for the Terms of Service, MySpace users are making an exchange. They get to tap into a huge network of people and information without cost. In return, MySpace (Fox) can use content from MySpace if it wants to, for commercial gain. 99.9% of the content on MySpace, no matter how good, is not going to be used for commercial purposes by Fox, simply because there's so much of it. The content that is good enough (and that depends on how you define "good") to be used by Fox may in some way be exploited commercially. Do you really think that the creator of such content wouldn't be happy to have their content publicized by Fox?
Think back to when you were a bit younger, and imagine that something like MySpace existed at the time. You'd probably be pretty excited by it, perhaps because you hadn't yet become jaded to all things Internet, perhaps because you liked the idea of communicating with people outside of the narrow confines of the community you lived in.
MySpace isn't for me. It obviously isn't for a lot of Slashdot regulars. So what. Get off the high horse. Diversity is good. Peer to peer communication is good. Or should we just go back to the monoculture of NBC, CBS, and ABC?
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
This is college?! Man, we need to get these kids some drugs ... STAT! What ever happened to sloth and lethargy? I want those jaws slack! Pupils dilated! I want a stack of dishes this high. I want to see BEDSORES people!
For you myspace nay-sayers, I recommend repeated listens of the first track on Bob Dylan's 3rd album.
There is a reason FOX wanted myspace.com....It is nothing more than a place for crap bands to advertise freely (although some good ones yes) and if you look at the types of people there they are FOX's target market. Dumb, big media crazy, all think alike (read favorites and comments etc) and self absorbed! Check it out it I speak the truth.
On one hand, I totally agree. Myspace is a giant pile. It's not reliable, the UI is horrible, every other member's site is littered with windows media files, it's owned by News Corp, etc.
On the other hand, all of my old college friends are on MySpace. I've been able to keep in contact with people that I would have otherwise never heard from again.
Unlike Friendster or Facebook, MySpace simply let people sign-up without jumping through hoops. You didn't have to be attending a university, you didn't have to be invited by a current member, etc. Consequently, a TON of people seem to be on MySpace now.
The ability to see you friend's address books is a great idea.
Now, if someone could make it less crappy, I'd be happy as hell. (google?)
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Since when does hunting deer entail a "capacity for violence" against humans? That's bullshit, and the author ought to know it; he's probably a vegan.
The answer is that there is none. Every time a particular culture comes up with one, it is only relevant to that particular culture at that particular time. As the culture changes the ideals shift (see IQ tests), and as cultures die out, they simply become irrelevant, historical curiosities. There is no objective way or measuring Intelligence, because there is no one Intelligence, but rather a multitude, perhaps and infinite number of different intelligences, which can only be gauged by how well they "function" in the actual material world. Given that this "MySpace Generation" (what a lame name...) is making the next fold in US culture simply by being the generation that will be coming into power, I'm sure they will function very well. Each new generation creates its own new categories for functionality, and in the process of doing this, in their youth, are invariably declared a dysfunctional generation because they do things different than the previous generation.
Making declarations like this shows that one is incapable of seeing that something is changing from what they are used to, comfortable with, without making an objective value judgement which is invariably wrong, and thereby showing themselves to possess a very small world view which is basically entirely occupied by their own personal view.
Maybe this is why I spend more time reading my friend's MySpace blogs than Slashdot discussions like this one. They may not exactly be though provoking, but at least they're not dangerously stupid.
What is it with people that have to "label" this and that? Labeling is one thing but labeling a generation is about as useful as saying you're a Libra or some other zodiac symbol.
Gen X, Gen Y, Gen @, Brat Pack, Rat Pack, etc. etc. It is so sickening and annoying.
I am venting, I think the whole thing should be ignored. It's as useless and pointless as watching the E! channel. What CRAP!!!
Pay attention to something of importance instead of media driven drivel.