MySpace has started limiting users’ access to 3rd party applications.
Revver. Imeem. Hoooka. All Banned. It appears MySpace wants to Monopolize the widget landscape.
Ironically, this seems vaguely reminiscent of the demise of Friendster. To recap the past, Friendster kicked off it’s biggest user (the now infamous Tila Tequila) for receiving too many friend requests.
MySpace (the rookie/underdog social network at the time) welcomed Tila into it’s social network with open arms. (Tila comments on this in an interview) Since then, MySpace has never enforced a quantity cap on ‘friends’ and everything went on to be hunky-dory.
But it looks like MySpace didn’t retain its short-term memory when the site grew rapidly and changed ownership. MySpace recently instructed Tila to remove a Hoooka widget from her profile that she used to stream and sell her songs.
Here’s where MySpace pulled a Friendster. MySpace claimed the widget violated its terms of service. Turns out that the “My” in MySpace is referring to somebody else.
Recently Facebook released it’s new api platform that opens much of its website functionality & user data to 3rd party applications. The open Facebook platform practically encourages nearly everything that MySpace won’t allow.
Just like MySpace swooped in to catch all of Friendster’s fallen users, Facebook has strategically placed itself as an obvious alternative, precisely when MySpace is openly dictating the limitations of what user behavior it allows.
Facebook is practically waving a ‘Welcome Home’ sign for any and all disenfranchised MySpace users.
Marc Andreessen has written an insightful breakdown of the pros and cons of the new Facebook platform. In Marc’s own words, “the new Facebook Platform is a dramatic leap forward for the Internet industry.”
And what impeccable timing! I wonder how this situation will end…
Does MySpace stand a chance to maintain its social networking stronghold? Or is this the perfect storm that Facebook has been looking for? Or is this all just BS?
(pulled a Friendster reference by Kieran)
