The Rise and Inglorious Fall of MySpace
1. Do you agree with the fast moving technology, fickle user behavior and swirling public perception are an extremely volatile mix
The nature of the above factors and their effects influenced my view. I strongly agree that these factors are strong in influencing a situation. They are volatile mix as indicated by the author. The dramatic changes we see in communication and relationship can be attributed to fast moving technology. User behavior changes with time and unimaginably with situations. These changes have a strong tendency to influence peer’s perception and attitude towards a platform usage. All these changes and the benefits that could be derived from the platforms will also influence public perception and usage.
2. Is culture clash unavoidable consequence when a start-up is acquired?
Culture clash is an avoidable consequence when a start up is acquired. Culture clash will depend on the type and goal of the start up. In case of ‘MySpace’, culture seems unavoidable. A social media site this it where people register to build relationship and share their media. In view of this perception will be different from both the owners and users of the site. This does not mean culture clash will always occur in all cases of start-up.
3. What role did the monetization of MySpace played in its demise?
Monetization according to the analysis of the writer and the present state of the website, it can be concluded that money factor played an important controlling factor in the growth of the site. Considering the fact that money target was made to be a primary goal, the pressure created by their aim to meet such target will definitely influence the user’s perception and use of the website. A social media site that focus more on money will strongly retard the interest of users and then change the users visiting rate to the site.
4. What about ColdFusion, can we blame the programming language as well?
A technology system that cannot actually keep up with the latest advancements will definitely be left unused. This could be used to illustrate the cold fusion simplistic programming language used to build MySpace. Although the programming language was found to be easier to use, the need for advancement as regards to speed was not met. This contributed to the demise of the company. When the time for need to change came, there is no way the company was able to keep up without affecting the traffic drastically because it will definitely result in shutting down of the site several time.
5. Why would it be hard to imagine that you are doing something wrong when you are growing at a rate of 300,000 users a day?
It would definitely be difficult to imagine the wrong doings because of the overwhelming success someone is recording. This site focused more on traffic per day. When there is overwhelming increase in traffic all will definitely be taught to be well. Even when those aspects of wrong doings are noticed, there might be a form of consideration, which will allow focus to shift from such path of wrong doings to path of success being recorded presently.
6. What is the reason Gillette identifies social networks as a combustible?
Gillette considered social networks as combustible because those networks have actually considered public perception in their development factors. This sensitivity to public perception are attributed to the safety issues that came against the use of MySpace. Most similar social networking sites used this public perception of safety as a tool for their rapid development.
7. Explain how innovation was stifled because of crises management?
Management crisis influenced development of MySpace in another dimension. This is because, improper management developed against the innovation the website needed to solve issues of old technology. The management in a bid to deal with security issues focused principally on development of tools to enhance security on the website hence focusing less on other innovations that could have helped the growth of the website.
8. What were the social changes that prompted critics to say that MySpace was becoming Detroit?
The tagged with “becoming Detroit” that was used to describe the technology issues with MySpace could be linked to changes occurring as regards to public impression of unsafe site. The public impression made certain group of kids believe sites like Facebook are better in terms of safety. Those groups are white and middle class kids, which is a move that was likened to “white flight” of the 20th century.
9. Can MySpace recover and become a pure social entertainment hub again?
MySpace can recover from the negative public perception and become a pure social site once more. This will have to be based on strong organizational build-up and reorientation of public perception by build a spam free site that is full of innovations. This will take time and efforts from the management.
10. What is the role of news corp. in the demise of MySpace?
The news corp. contributed to the demise of MySpace in different ways. Their relationship with MySpace was said to be unstable and the dependence of MySpace on newscorp resulted in this instability. In a situation like this, impairment of development will definitely be a consequence of the relationship.
References
Gillette, F. (2011). The Rise and Inglorious Fall of Myspace. Businessweek.
Retrieved 11 October, 2011 from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_27/b4235053917570.htm.
