Posted on Friday 2nd of June 2006 at 09:17 in The Internet

Life beyond MySpace

Life beyond the MySpace corporate grip Rupert Murdoch is taking over the world. MySpace cost $580m and has been spiralling skywards ever since with more page views than Google and 22 million registered users, so obviously it's big business. Blogging is one of the main attractions of MySpace but this author feels that MySpace - through its excellence - has become bloated.

If people want to Blog I feel there are sufficient outlets for this, Blogger, LiveJournal to name just two, but what happens if people want to use MySpace to meet others? True enough it has chat rooms, filled to the rafters with trolls and other multitudes of militant weirdo?s; but very few real people. The real people linger on their own pages, seemingly hoping that random people will find them somehow. Maybe this is done by browsing by which school you took your education at? But isn't that the purpose of Friends-Reunited? What happens if you want to just have your own space and meet other people, without the spam, without invasive groups, thousands of forums etc.

FindingEmo
I've taken it upon myself to develop FindingEmo.co.uk which is still in the development, to offer people what I consider people want. A simple system allowing people to register and create themselves a profile, from there you can browse for other users with a simple messaging system.

Browse for fellow people by location or preference, send them a message, and work from there. MySpace seems to attempt to operate independantly to well establish messaging services, relying on you to sustain a social life entirely within Rupert's grasp. FindingEmo on the other hand is designed to act as a means to meet people, allowing the individual to take the acquaintance further.

What does it hope to achieve?
Now, to claim that this makes MySpace defunct is folly. In addition, to believe FindingEmo will work is possibly wishful thinking (when completed of course). But it needs to be recognised that there is a point in developing new systems with new ideas, otherwise you're conceding defeat on the basis that an incredibly bloated alternative still exists. For an example of this, look at Google. Once the best search engine on the planet which is now adding more features than any calculator could deal with.

So maybe we should continue developing new ideas? Rather than letting the eBay's of this world own our souls. For inspiration, look towards Linux - the underdog with an ever increasing user-base. Would the new Ubuntu have been developed had it not been for this attitude?

 

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