What MySpace Means

Adriana Lukas's event notes

2006-07-01T11:08:00Z

Many thanks to Adriana Lukas for blogging the notes from her talk at What MySpace Means on 21 June. Adriana is currently travelling around the US on business - and will be for several weeks - so I really appreciate her taking the time to sit down and process her discussion notes for the rest of us. Cheers, A!

"...just about the most enjoyable and stimulating thing I've been to in a long time"

2006-06-27T00:26:00Z

I really can’t put into words how gratifying it is to read some of the kind words people have had about last week’s event. I would not publish the ones which have come to me via email, but am so pleased to be able to point you in the direction of Antony Mayfield’s review:

...I went along to the Engagement Alliance event themed around MySpace (for it ranged far and wide on connected social media issues) earlier this week. It was just about the most enjoyable and stimulating thing I’ve been to in a long time…

For the most part, the event was high-octane fuel for social media thinking and - ye gods! - there were some good minds there (and people weren’t afraid to speak them either) on and off the stage…

[Hillary Johnson’s talk] was pretty free thinking, stunning, stirring stuff about how economies and societies will function in the age of networks. In fact she was the perfect finale to an intellectual laser show of an afternoon - I’m sure Jackie planned it that way too.

I didn’t really mix it in some of the on-floor rows, but had some good chats afterwards and went away with a notebook and head crammed full of ideas and energy. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Antony, I am more than glad to have been of service in organising the event, and am very proud of the presenters for spurring you to fill your notebook! Your ticket to the EA’s next event is on me.

Heather Hopkins' What MySpace Means presentation

2006-06-25T15:54:00Z

Many thanks to Hitwise UK‘s Director of Research, Heather Hopkins, for doing such a fabulous job at What MySpace Means of setting the scene for the rest of the day’s conversation. Heather gave us her most recent research data on MySpace and the social networking space in the UK, which gave a good foundations for the other presenters’ talks, which expanded from MySpace specifics and into other online community-related topics. She has now very kindly posted her presentation notes and charts for everyone on the web to see. Big thanks for that, too, Heather!

Hillary Johnson's event notes

2006-06-22T15:22:00Z

What MySpace Means presenter Hillary Johnson, who flew from the US to speak at our event, has blogged her notes on the day. She has also blogged an overview of her own presentation, and goes into a bit more detail on some points.

When I came up with the idea for an organisation that would put together events like yesterday’s - an organisation that is legally the Engagement Alliance, and that practically is me and the advisory board - and help businesses figure out the importance and implications of online communication, I was sitting in the passenger seat as Hillary drove us around my hometown in Ohio, searching for wifi. She had flown in from LA to meet me as I visited my family, so we could cover off in person some ideas that had been germinating online. (Not being able to be online as we had those face-to-face discussions was a definite disadvantage.) So it was entirely appropriate to have her participate in the EA’s first event, and I’m pleased she could make it. Thanks for sharing your notes, Hillary!

Photos from What MySpace Means

2006-06-22T15:21:00Z

For those who would like to see - and comment on - them, have uploaded my pictures from yesterday’s event to Flickr: What MySpace Means photos.

Event notes fom David Tebbutt

2006-06-22T10:50:00Z

While I try to finish off my thank you notes, upload photos, and process my notes, journalist and Information World Review columnist David Tebbutt has already blogged quite detailed notes from our event yesterday. Very kind, David, and I’m glad you got some value out of the day!

Done, but not forgotten

2006-06-21T22:24:00Z

At right, the Guardian‘s Victor Keegan talks about how his newspaper has cultivated online communities at What MySpace Means, the event that was a product of this blog, today in London.

I will be posting a substantial amount about the event - notes on presentations, notes on conversations, pictures, presentations, and feedback - over the next couple of days. In the meantime, I am only halfway through the thank you notes that I need to send to presenters and attendees. Watch this space for more…

Ready, set...

2006-06-20T20:59:00Z

So tomorrow is when we will all finally gather in London, after weeks of blog posts, e-mail exchanges, and face-to-face conversations, to discuss what MySpace really means.

But the passing of this event will not mean the death of this blog. I have had several requests from those who can’t be with us tomorrow, from all over the world, to share the outcome of our conversations via the blog. This seems only right and proper. Life online means that no idea, thought, or expression is ever really ‘finished’ - not so long as someone else can find it, add to it, re-interpret it, or give it their own spin. Why should our event be any different?

I’m also pleased to say that MySpace’s senior vice president of marketing, Jamie Kantrowitz, will be joining us tomorrow, as will their VP of sales operations, Jay Stevens. So in addition to being able to exercise their right to reply in person, perhaps the MySpace gang can also give us their answer to the question: “So, what does MySpace really mean?”

What MySpace Means only two days away

2006-06-19T15:37:00Z

Well, things are rather hectic in the lead up to our event on Wednesday. There are still a few tickets left, so if you’d like to come along, please do get in touch. I’m especially interested in hearing from independents or SME-affiliated individuals who may not be able to afford the ticket price; I’d like to get you along, so please do if you’d like to take part.

Observer observes social media

2006-06-18T10:30:00Z

Today’s Observer has an in-depth look at social networking sites, with special attention on MySpace rival Bebo.

[Bebo founder Michael] Birch believes we are only at the beginning of things. Social networking sites ‘are becoming much more of a utility over time rather than being a pure gimmick’, he told the website Online Personals Watch. ‘They’re actually providing a genuine benefit. For example, Bebo is a cultural phenomenon in Ireland. A Beboer contacted us from Ireland and told us that before Bebo, the folks in his small town were not getting along. Then everyone independently joined Bebo, and got to know each other and now there’s a community spirit in the town pub that wasn’t there before.’ In other words, young people are exploiting the ideal way of communicating with each other: socially awkward and self-conscious in the real world, fluent in the online world.

There’s nothing new in this piece, but it is worth reading if you are still trying to wrap your head round the online social networking space.

Online space as real estate

2006-06-17T11:44:00Z

Seamus McCauley of Virtual Economics on MySpace slapping SingleStat.us with a cease and desist letter:

MySpace is treating its network like real estate. Legally, eBay vs BiddersEdge shows us that this is something MySpace is perfectly entitled to do...As a digital media strategy, it is absurd. If people want to come onto your land to build you a house, the appropriate response is not a bigger fence.

It is also worth reading what Seamus has to say about the smuttier MySpace killers that have been appearing of late.

MySpace in context

2006-06-17T11:33:00Z

I talked yesterday with recently added speaker Victor Keegan, from the Guardian, who told me that he is going to expand his presentation a bit from the topic that Bobbie Johnson was going to tackle - that is, how the Guardian has learned about and embraced online community cultivation. Victor is also going to try to put MySpace into the context of what is happening elsewhere on the web, not just from the viewpoint of a longtime (20+ years) journalist and editor, but as someone who is himself a blogger (and my newest Flickr contact). Considering the huge success that his newspaper is enjoying on the back of their web endeavours, I’m sure Victor’s going to show us all a thing or two to remember.

MySpace dealing in "bad karma"?

2006-06-16T13:57:00Z

[I]f I’ve learned anything from covering companies, it’s that sending a cease and desist letter to a small, one-man startup is generally not going to work out the way you planned.

So says reporter, entrepreneur, and lawyer Michael Arrington, editor of the hugely popular TechCrunch, on MySpace’s nuking of SingleStat.us.

Victor Keegan at WhatMySpace Means

2006-06-16T12:38:00Z

Sadly for us, the Guardian‘s Bobbie Johnson is being sent by the newspaper to the US on an assignment that will conflict with our event next week. Happily for us, the Guardian‘s Victor Keegan will be coming to What MySpace Means in Bobbie’s place, to talk about the driving principles behind the Guardian‘s overhaul to community cultivation, and the lessons for non-media entities in their overwhelming success.

Victor Keegan

2006-06-16T12:30:00Z

Vic Keegan writes a weekly technology column and leaders in the Guardian as well as a fortnightly economics column on Guardian Unlimited.

He joined the Guardian in 1963 as a general reporter in Manchester and afterwards became financial correspondent in London. Since then his positions have included deputy financial editor, business editor, economics editor, duty editor, chief leader writer and assistant editor. He was a member of the Scott Trust, owner of the Guardian, for 11 years and he edited the Online section of the Guardian for six years until summer 2005. Keegan also runs the Guardian‘s Kick All Agricultural Subsidies (KICK AAS) blog.

Victor will present to What MySpace Means attendees the driving principles behind the Guardian‘s overhaul to community cultivation, and the lessons for non-media entities in their overwhelming success.