MySpace loosing it?

MySpace is facing ongoing problems with their servers that simply cannot cope with the enormous traffic. As a result of what can only be an under'served' IT team, songs are no longer streamed since a couple of hours. And this is not the first time this happens, over the past few weeks we have had at least 3 days which were streamless.

Add to this that for the most popular MySpace accounts accepting friends has become a very tiresome job as the system goes down at almost every attempt to accept a next round of friends (which can only be added 10 at the time). Knowing that there are programs available that can automatically send mass friend requests to MySpace users and you know where you are wasting your time on sometimes. Although MySpace says it has incorporated technology to identify and block spammers, so far these have had little or no effect.

Speaking to one of those MySpace members with a hugely successful account, he told me that he is literally wading hours per week through the system in order to get the 1000 demands per week accepted. And no all are as interesting because can you keep up with the amount of friend request you get on a daily basis via MySpace, especially with all those models ? Indeed, since a few months the number of requests is getting a bit ridiculous, especially the number of (great looking) women popping in to say hello and ask to become your special friend is huge. I guess many men would feel flattered but I start wondering why so many models have suddenly become dark wave fans except for showing you the way to porn sites that is.

On top of that these so-called friends are flooding pages like mine with remarks like "I love your music" (there is no damn song to be heard on my MySpace page), "Oh my god, you're so beautiful" (Yeah, right... tell that to my wife) and so on. Most comments have little or no content and are clearly plastered there to grab the attention of genuine friends.

The increasing malfunctioning goes hand in hand with an increasing amount of spam sent via the system, spyware being spread via the ads shown on the site and an ever-growing amount of advertising which has nothing to do with the content of the accounts, the ad for smileys being the most annoying ones. And this is having its effects on the visitor's rate as the traffic to MySpace is slowing down, a lot. Only 3.1% up in the most recent 3 months compared with a 45% jump in the same period a year ago ( The Wall Street Journal - Nielsen/NetRatings), which makes me believe that the site may have reached its saturation , at least in the U.S.

Still, it's not all misery, for many bands, MySpace still is a cheap way to inform fans if you can keep up with the friends that is.

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