MySpace, MyRisk?
It is reasonable to suspect that Rupert Murdoch is successful enough that News Corp would not buy MySpace unless the expectations and research concluded the enterprise would be an obscene money maker. But the complaints alleging that the internet darling is a harbor for sexual predators went relatively quiet for a while with a few late night attempts at humor. Suggesting the fight against internet sexual predators resulted in the development of a predator database in which the punchline was, it is called MySpace.
The controversy later gained more coverage as MySpace was criticized for ignoring the problem and neglecting its responsibility to deny access to registered sex offenders. Recent reports suggest something of a chronology not necessarily leading to conclusions that events are changing due to MySpace efforts or the preferences of target audiences.
Starting with the considerations that drive business in general is a revenue estimate available for MySpace.
MySpace to Generate $1B of Revenue in 2007
Posted on Jul 25th, 2007 with stocks: NWS
Now, people have been sticking their fingers in the wind on MySpace revenue since the day Murdoch bought it,
This may account for the slow response from MySpace on the predator issue and the lack of press release mention of recent developments and news items at the News Corp’s website.
Could it be that MySpace started paying attention to the predator complaints more seriously after noticing a shift in their user base indicated below.
Class War: MySpace Vs. Facebook
Claire Cain Miller 07.23.07, 6:00 AM ET
A flurry of recent articles have observed that young people are leaving MySpace for Facebook in droves, setting off speculation that MySpace is becoming the latest victim of fickle teens following the hot new thing.
Facebook opened its service to a wider audience and there is a suggestion that affluent kids favor Facebook while blue collar kids favor MySpace. One can only hope the real reason is dissatisfaction with MySpace neglect on serious issues initiating moves by concerned parents or discerning youth.
When law enforcement and popular IT publications focus on headlines the one below, corporate boardrooms may take notice and action. Or you could chalk it up to coincidence but what are the odds on that?
MySpace Hosting 29,000 Sex Offenders
MySpace hosted Web pages for at least 29,000 known sex offenders as of July 2007.
Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service
Wednesday, July 25, 2007 6:00 AM PDT
News Corp.’s popular MySpace.com social networking site hosted Web pages for at least 29,000 known sex offenders as of July 2007, North Carolina’s Attorney General said Tuesday.
For MySpace to finally do something noticeable on the predator issue it is reasonable to conclude that like many high profile, popular businesses generating large revenues, responding to damage control is done on a time line not synchronized with public opinion.
MySpace Kicks Out Convicted Sex Offenders
Written by Cornell Barnard, Reporter
The popular Internet social network MySpace announced Tuesday it’s detected and deleted 29,000 convicted sex offenders from its site.
The international presence of this top tier web business is not something new but the recent addition of the Mexican version of MySpace may be to replace losses in this last fiasco and from competition. Maybe it is a trend to favor marketing outside the US for users that will not object to objectionable situations as quickly or effectively.
Big money businesses not responding in a timely fashion may do so because they have the resources to take their time. Perhaps they exhaust every other option before doing what they should have done initially. And the driver is more likely the threat of litigation, government action or other forces causing the fatal loss of too much revenue rather than a belief in corporate responsibility. The token nature of the MySpace response may at least serve to overcome future arguments that there is nothing they can do. The same technology that generates the revenue for social networking can provide solutions for policing the enterprise. Yet profit will likely remain the primary consideration for corporations responding to damage control.
Stanford Matthews
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