What is it?
According to Danah Boyd:
The site is a hodgepodge of features previously surfaced by sites like Friendster, Hot or Not, Xanga, Rate My Teacher, etc. At the core are profiles that are connected by links to friends on the system. Profiles are personalized to express an individual's interests and tastes, thoughts of the day and values. Music, photos and video help users make their profile more appealing.
The friend network allows people to link to their friends and people can traverse the network through these profiles. Bands, movie stars, and other media creators have profiles within the system and fans can friend them as well. People can comment on each others' profiles or photos and these are typically displayed publicly.
Who is there?
- Everyone!
- Originally targeted for LA Area young adults
- Now includes a much larger audience
- Still focused primarily on teens and twenty-somethings, but lots of folks
- Important venue for musicians
Why did it succeed?
- Customizable
- Critical mass
- Right place / right time
Why should a museum be there?
- Teen audiences are there
- Museums have education as an imparative
- myspace is their public space, we should enter it
- May seem like a gross backwater to adults, but the kids are there
- Museums can be trusted
- Curated cultural content in a minefield
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySpace