Design

Leaving MySpace Reason 287: Fictional Profiles

Remember when you first signed up for some kind of social network, or joined a email list serv and got super excited when that *bing* went off - meaning you received a new message? Well that quickly goes away after you realize that your inbox grows increasingly more complex and your attention becomes a luxury. It’s more obvious when you end up joining everyone and their mom’s network to see how juggling between different email notifications can be, well, annoying. Those *bing*s are now prioritized and carefully evaluated on importance. “Oh, a new friends request?” you say. After a click here and there, you see that this hot burnette is actually some fake profile. Damn. Not my lucky day. Well, my experience with MySpace has definitely heightened that annoyance.

Speaking to my experience with MySpace - it is quiet painful. I’m sure there is a way to turn off notifications, but I thought I did that alreadyNevermind, found it. Wait, that was just for bands, who wanted me to listen to their music for no unique reason than just because. I’m all for it, but it loses it’s originality quickly and it feels really impersonal. I’d rather hear about it from my friends as a recommendation.

I do see how MySpace has it’s place and does well, but what would make it better? Maybe making settings a little more obvious and visually informative to the person? Facebook does a pretty good job of that.

Anyways, I’m going to keep my MySpace account open (for now) because certain groups of friends are on it and it is unfortunately the only way I keep in contact with them. In the meantime, I will be giving Virb a chance. Think of it as the cleaner version of MySpace.