Peter Chernin, CEO of MySpace’s parent company, Newscorp unbelievably said this early this week:
“If you look at virtually any Web 2.0 application, whether its YouTube, whether it’s Flickr, whether it’s Photobucket or any of the next-generation Web applications, almost all of them are really driven off the back of MySpace.”
Needless to say that I think he might have his head up his arse. This is the most self indulgent and ignorant, self righteous things I have ever heard a CEO say… well in recent memory anyway. Clearly said without knowledge or forethought.
So what these companies would be nothing without MySpace? I don’t think so, they are successful because the users have decided to support them, as is the case with MySpace. That support can be fickle as well. So just be careful about saying just how good you think you might be. Tomorrow you not be on the “hot” list. Especially if users think you are full of your own self importance, they tend not to like that very much.
In my opinion I think that MySapce is popular with the demographic that they appeal to and that’s it. Right now that is the biggest driving force of any company, market, trend and dollars; the young, hip, trendy youth market. I think it has very little to offer the adult serious blogger or tech-type person. Although some will visit to see what is on offer and maybe have a space to get exposure. This is a powerful market force for lots of obvious reasons and the source of the confidence in Peter Chernin’s comment. They can also turn on you like a rabbid dog. The YoYo was hot once too. They have to concentrate on how they keep this audience interested, not on how they are going to global domination wielding this possibly temporary power that can be here today and gone tomorrow.
These comments were made with reference to the fact that if MySpace were to build a similar service to YouTube for example and make the videos accessible to MySpace users to “embed” in their pages then they would use that instead of YouTube. I think that is a reach. Convincing users to drop what is “cool” or the “service of choice” in favour of an alternative is a tough job. They would want to be offering a much better service or something to make them stand out. I don’t think they can do that. Plus you have to crack the brand loyalty of users to YouTube, good luck mate!
CEO Tip Number 1: engage brain then speak otherwise you will look stupid. Stupid.
Rooster's Rail 