Murdoch, MySpace and YouTube

This CNET article, patronising comment about teenagers apart (never heard of fickle adults?), caught my eye:

When Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought MySpace, the social-networking Web site, in July, some of its users gloomily predicted that the site would be altered to suit the company's corporate interests. Proof for many of those people came earlier this month, when MySpace users began to notice that any references to YouTube, a video-sharing site and a competitor, were erased or blocked from appearing on My-Space. Some MySpace users also reported that when they tried to download videos from YouTube, a patch of white space appeared instead. … The official blog maintained by YouTube offered another explanation the next day, saying the issue was "a simple misunderstanding, and MySpace has re-enabled all YouTube embeds." A spokesman for News Corp. did not return phone calls on Friday.

The incident underlines the peril corporations face as they buy blogs and networking sites like MySpace, which depend on the good will of their users. Murdoch paid $580 million for MySpace, a significant investment for a 2-year-old Web site primarily populated by fickle teenagers and users in their 20s. Like other members of free community Web sites, MySpace users often react with indignation if they believe their content has been tampered with. And they can always decide to leave for other networking sites. As one irate user put it in a message to MySpace members, "visit Friendster and Hi5 if you're interested in social networking sites that don't censor content and allow your YouTube video embeds."

I haven't bought in to MySpace precisely because of Murdoch's ownership of it.

Oh, and YouTube is a site that surely is going to become big this year.

Technorati Tags: Rupert Murdoch, MySpace, YouTube, broadcasting