Myspace

I remember just over a year ago now, my friend hassled me to join the internet social networking giant, Myspace.

After being hassled numerous times, I reluctantly joined but rarely logged on to see god knows which 'friend' had added or messaged me.

But 1 year later, I must admit I am addicted, not because of the fact I can keep in touch with my friends (I would much rather send them an SMS or call them), but it has been a good oportunity to get some of my music production noticed.

However I have a few issues with Myspace. 1. Unreliability, 2. Spam and 3. Hackers.

1. More often than not Myspace is 'experiencing technical difficulties' or 'being repaired'. I realise it is a relatively new service but it is a big pitfall. In my time using Myspace, similar sites such as Facebook and Japans Mixi have never been down.

A major problem with Myspace is that it allows the user to virtually edit the entire page to their liking. They can include any html, java or flash script which is not compatible with all computers and adds to the problem. Facebook offers limited options on content personalisation and Mixi offers none what so ever. Not a down fall in my opinion.

2. & 3. I can join Spam and Hackers together because they are two of the same. Myspace is incredibly easy to hack, with hackers simply posting a link to a phoney Myspace log in page, with the unsuspecting user happily entering their e-mail and password and sending it to the hacker. The hacker can now simply send spam from these accounts, polluting Myspace. But the user simply has to change their password and then the spam will stop.

Here is A video of how hackers go about their business on Myspace.