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Walmart Tries to Emulate MySpace
mattsucks writes to tell us that according to AdAge, retail behemoth WalMart is trying desperately to target the MySpace demographic with a new, and highly sanitized, site designed to appeal to teens. From the article: "It's a quasi-social-networking site for teens designed to allow them to 'express their individuality,' yet it screens all content, tells parents their kids have joined and forbids users to e-mail one another. Oh, and it calls users 'hubsters' -- a twist on hipsters that proves just how painfully uncool it is to try to be cool."
US Democracy:The best person for the job (among These pre-selected choices...)
Screened content? Check
Parents notified? Check
Oooh, no email? Check
Yep, hits all my buttons.
Unfortunately, I'm a parent, with teenagers. I'd have as much success leading them to this site as I have getting them to tidy their rooms, speak respectfully to their elders and cook dinner occasionally.
A much better idea would have been to create a subsidiary and do it through them. The association with a company that works on a "mass" basis somewhat works against the desire to "express one's individuality".
Actually, if I did want to express my individuality (which I don't, because I don't have low self-esteem), I would prefer to make my own site. That's a lot more individualistic than being part of a large mass of people on a big site.
see a Text Widget
I've looked at MySpace but I just don't get it. It just full of crap. Perhaps I'm too old.
Can anyone point out a page that's actually worth looking at?
This is a really bad advertising ploy and a source of future labor for anyone who signs up. It is an interesting idea though, it would have worked better if they just created a seperate deparment/company to accomplish roughly the same goal, kind of what disney did with miramax. They could have just set up the site with all walmart advertisments. or just go buy the advertisments on myspace...or myspace itself. Corporate takeovers on the internet...
On the other hand, it could be worse.
They could have called the users: "Associates"
& the site: "The Wall"
Aside from the entertainment of the mockery Wally World so richly deserves, this is a pretty clear example of the level of desperation the idiot mainstream marketers are experiencing. They, like the failed entertainment retailers, are coming to realize that they can't control the world anymore.
So, they are trying to take on this runaway train we call the web. Trouble is, they have been stuck in their little castles for so long, they no longer get the new world that is. Because they do not get it, they attempt a cheesy imitation of such.
The stunning irony here is that they actually believed this rip off would be found credible and there was no one within their ranks who was able to tell them how idiotic they looked.
This isn't the loss of a battle -- this is a total loss of the war.
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Right, but the key problem is the userbase. Why does AIM remain so popular as the AOL isp service continues to decline? Existing infrastructure. Everyone has an AIM screen name, and if you want to talk to them you'll likely have to do the same. So, why would I join a social network site like Walmart to shop with my friends, when none of my friends are on it? Its going to take a LOT of money to fix that and incentivise getting me to join your service. And when that's finished, did you really sell more crap?
Speaking of MySpace, are we picking up on dogshit for education? 81 comments as of this post and the headline is still an eyesore.
Fix, editors, fix! Edit, editors, edit!
I agree it's a stupid idea, but don't underestimate what large companies can 'leverage'. All walmart needs to do is to promote it in their stores and create some kind of incentive for people to register to it and use it (such as store discounts); then they can build on that attention by providing a quality system (which of course, they're failing at right now).
Wal*Mart is simply doing this to gain valuable insight into the "popular" things teenagers think about. To do so is to "know your market," which in the ends gains them dollars. They don't give a damn about competing with MySpace - this is simply free focus group fodder. If they even get a few hundred users to post a few blog posts with useful marketing information, they'll be happy.
Marketing data is what they are looking for.
They just want teens to express their individuality, uh, as long as that individuality conforms to Walmart's ideas
This is going to fail and fail badly. For one simple reason anyone who still remembers there childhood knows: Nothing specifically designed to appeal to teens ever does.
Teens are way, way, way more interested in stuff made for adults.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I pity the poor kids whose bible-thumping or paranoid parents force them off Myspace and onto this turd. Just keep telling yourself that it will end when you go to college, kids. And, for God's sake, DO NOT let them send you to Liberty University.
-Eric
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.