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Myspace gets into bed with news |
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MySpace is getting into the online news business with a launch due in the 2nd quarter… or at least Terry Heaton thinks so. His story is based on hearsay “according to inside sources”. The very fact that we’re reporting on it means you are reading third hand information that may not actually be true.
Anyway. Apparently Myspace News will take news to a “whole new level” by dynamically aggregating real time news from the top sites around the world. I might have my head in the sand, but isn’t this what a news aggregator does?
Terry also reports that they the news service will create topical news pages that user can interact and engage with throughout the day… as opposed to un-topical news pages? They must have a team of geniuses working at Myspace HQ.
Users who don’t normally leave their bedrooms now won’t even have to leave the site: “Myspace users previously had to leave the site to find comprehensive news, gossip, sporting news, etc. With Myspace News, we bring the news to them!”. It will be interesting to see what sort of news Myspace thinks will appeal to Generation Y in the year 2007. One would imagine that’s it’s going to be MORE Britney in Rehab and LESS Car bombs in Baghdad.
Even worse then this appalling concept is that Myspace News will supposedly allow registered users to ad comments nauseum on every news item that comes through the system. While this might have social book marking giants like Digg shaking in their pants, I’m not convinced it’s a great idea:
MySpace, it is worth noting, is part of Rupert’s Multi-billion dollar vortex which has newspapers and TV stations in the US, UK and Australia. Don’t get me wrong, The New York Post, Fox News, The Sun and News of the World are quality publications with their own highly biased agendas, but letting users water down their content based on hearsay and gossip as it’s passed along the grapevine can only lead to the erosion of worthwhile news.
As someone wise once said, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, especially then there's a lot of Myspace users involved”. As Terry points out, there is a serious concern to this “Internet Pureplay” – and that is companies taking on the role on the of media. Interestingly enough, other media companies like USA Today are gearing up to launch their own social networks. In the future, not only will users be able to interact with the newspaper, but with other readers.
As market share in traditional media sources is shrinking who knows where all this traffic grabbing is going to end up… especially when everyone wants you to “come to OUR portal or OUR site or OUR social network”.
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