MySpace - More than just a 'place for friends'
Posted by Ken Yarmosh
MySpace continues to be in the news, whether it is Pete Cashmore saying you are a lametard for not "getting it" or more serious stories like those recently highlighted by Smart Mobs and Randy Charles Morin.
Smart Mobs links to a post from boingboing, related to how MySpace was used by students in response to a proposed immigration bill:
Joel Rubin, a reporter from the Los Angeles Times, just told the host of a news program on KCRW (the NPR affiliate station in LA), that the 15,000 high school students who walked out of school today organized today's march using MySpace.com over the weekend.
Then from CNN, Randy Charles Morin excerpts this article about how Colorado detectives used MySpace profiles to track down rape and robbery suspects:
Detectives used profiles posted on the MySpace social networking Web site to identify six suspects. [cut] The victim, whose name was withheld, became acquainted with the suspects through MySpace, authorities said. [cut] She knew only their first names but their pictures were posted on MySpace. [cut] "We pulled up her friends list. It helped us identify some of the players," said [Detective] Bartley
MySpace has proved that it is more than just "a place for friends". It is a place the can facilitate protests, a place that authorities can use to fight crime. If events like these continue to happen, MySpace and other social networking sites will definitely not exist as they currently do. After all, it is the perceived absence of authority that makes MySpace so appealing to teens and others.
MySpace continues to be in the news, whether it is Pete Cashmore saying you are a lametard for not "getting it" or more serious stories like those recently highlighted by Smart Mobs and Randy Charles Morin.
Smart Mobs links to a post from boingboing, related to how MySpace was used by students in response to a proposed immigration bill:
Joel Rubin, a reporter from the Los Angeles Times, just told the host of a news program on KCRW (the NPR affiliate station in LA), that the 15,000 high school students who walked out of school today organized today's march using MySpace.com over the weekend.
Then from CNN, Randy Charles Morin excerpts this article about how Colorado detectives used MySpace profiles to track down rape and robbery suspects:
Detectives used profiles posted on the MySpace social networking Web site to identify six suspects. [cut] The victim, whose name was withheld, became acquainted with the suspects through MySpace, authorities said. [cut] She knew only their first names but their pictures were posted on MySpace. [cut] "We pulled up her friends list. It helped us identify some of the players," said [Detective] Bartley
MySpace has proved that it is more than just "a place for friends". It is a place the can facilitate protests, a place that authorities can use to fight crime. If events like these continue to happen, MySpace and other social networking sites will definitely not exist as they currently do. After all, it is the perceived absence of authority that makes MySpace so appealing to teens and others.
posted by idtics at 6:03 AM
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