Wired News has published Web 2.0 Winners and Losers. Notably, MySpace is listed as a loser:
They say 100 million users can't be wrong. Well, can't they? Regardless of how popular MySpace is or how many bands, web celebs or stalkers it continues to empower and enable, the social networking site is about as pleasant to look at as last week's cat vomit. The user interface is clunky and counterintuitive. Advertising is ubiquitous and invasive. The garish backgrounds and animated images seem sucked from some terrible time portal that leads straight to the nascent web of 1995. Oh, and auto-launching audio widgets and video players? Don't get me started.
Get a grip, Wired. Web 2.0 is about how the sofware is used to connect people, not just what it looks like. I personally believe that the garish websites are no better than 80's New Wave fashion styles (yuck), and not much better than the early rush of Blogger themes, either. But it is a style that represents an evolution in website "fashion" within a very, very, very large community. Let's give it credit for being what some people like even if it doesn't agree with refined aesthetic values of website design.
No Kidding
Well, I've often had the same thoughts about MySpace. It's an ugly site with lots of...crrrrrap. Then again, they don't call them the "unwashed masses" for nothing. ;-)
I try to use Facebook as my example when talking about social networking sites. It's much more "work safe" and won't get you bombed out with some pop-up ad featuring a close-up of someone's pasties. Good Grief.
Check out Barton's gaming blog at Armchair Arcade.
sense of style
Okay, if you can pick on the masses, Mr. "I still play DOS-based and other 20 year old video games," let's talk about style sense when it comes to technology. Some of these MySpace people are stylin' more in their technological choices ;-)
(You know I'm just trying to aggravate your tooth..hehe)
-----
Charlie | cyberdash
But Myspace pages can be personalized...
The fact that Myspace users can learn to insert code to change the design of their page is a Good Thing in my book. I don't care how "unwashed" we masses are, I want the means of production in our hands to help us engage in design *choices* no matter what others think of them. I've blogged about this here:
http://textualcoordination.blogspot.com/2006/09/beauty-of-ugly.html