The Mystery of MySpace

From Eschaton:

"I admit MySpace's popularity mystifies me somewhat as they're all pretty much the shittiest websites on the internets, except maybe for this one. But they did enough right that wasn't offered elsewhere and managed to succeed."

MySpace is now the most popular website on the internet and a major tool for social communication for people under 25. I think the main lesson from MySpace is that people care most about other people. As Atrios noted, most of the websites generated by MySpace are incredibly awful. Still, millions of users spend untold hours on these sites. The driving force is human connection. People look at lousy websites because they belong to their friends. I'd rather read a crappy website about someone I know than some slick production about hair gel.

There are some good lessons for political organizers in the success of MySpace. Nothing is more important than trust. People trust other people in their social networks. The only way to reach people who aren't political junkies is through thier friends. Online communities are as important as offline communities and can be an incredible tool for mobilization.