Because the site has a wide range of users, including many counterculture types, some are afraid the conservative Murdoch will start imposing his political views or having those that differ from his removed.
MySpace's co-founder and continuing President, Tom Anderson, tried to lay some fears to rest by saying, "We are not deleting any content or censoring people in any new way. We are not exploiting anyone's data or violating anyone's privacy. MySpace has been my life for almost two years now ... I won't let it get jacked up."
Murdoch’s FOX network can now use the site for direct advertising, but L.A. club promoter Candice Smart says that, while the site is very useful, she will take her promotions elsewhere if a fee-based system is introduced.
“I would not pay the fee if it turned into a paysite because there are other communities that I can do the same thing on for free,” the Highlands and XES promoter told XBiz. She mentioned Friendster, evite and “good-old Craigslist” as possible alternatives.
“It wouldn’t be the same as MySpace, but I still would not pay,” she said, adding that she is concerned about how Fox’ influence might change the dynamic of the community.
Within the adult industry, where business and pleasure often merge, PurePlay Media publicist April Storm uses MySpace to promote events for the companies that PurePlay manages, but she also uses it to keep track of friends. Storm said that she would welcome some regulation of MySpace to limit membership to users 18 or older, but would not pay an exorbitant fee for the privilege of belonging.
“I wouldn't mind paying a very small fee per year because I think that might help eliminate the false accounts and help keep everyone over 18,” Storm said. “I worry about kids having access to the site considering how much adult content there is there.”
Carly Milne, a former adult industry publicist and now an author and freelance writer, closed her MySpace account when she left the porn business. She said that her MySpace account didn’t work very well for business connections, anyway.
“It depends on how you mean ‘worked,’” Milne said. “If you mean I got spammed by people I didn't know wanting to be added to my friend list, then it worked. If you mean I made professional connections and whatnot, then no, it didn’t.”
MySpace seems to be most effective when making person-to-person connections or publicizing parties. Sharon Kohl, a media buyer in an advertising agency in West Hollywood, uses it to keep in touch with friends, because some of the pictures in her profile might hinder business-related networking.
“I love MySpace,” she said, “but I would never ever pay for it. If MySpace ever became a paysite, a new free networking site would certainly emerge.”
Kohl noted that her cousin in Israel uses MySpace exclusively to keep in touch with her family in the United States, and that the site is very effective for her clients, mostly in the travel industry, for whom she buys ad space.
“MySpace [advertising] is reasonably priced and gets a lot of impressions and page views,” she said.
MySpace CEO and founder Chris DeWolfe has said that NewsCorp’s acquisition of his two-year-old company will have no effect other than to broaden the site’s international reach.
