When FOX and NBC announced that they’d be working on Hulu before it was released, I thought it would look bad.  Because looking at FOX’s acquisition of MySpace, it does not have as clean of a user interface as Facebook.  Hulu was released and I realized that judgment of FOX was off.  Then when I heard that FOX’s MySpace was creating a music service, I had high expectations given the success of Hulu.

MySpace Music was seen as a challenge to iTunes, but when I browsed the interface, I decided that it sucks.  Individual artist pages are no different from a regular MySpace user’s profile.  It is covered with Flash ads and Flash widgets everywhere, thus causing the load time to be a lot slower.  In order to buy the music, you have to wait for the artist’s MySpace Music Flash widget to load and then look for the small Amazon.com logo.

MySpace Music would have been better being built as a desktop software, especially if they want to compete with iTunes.  I agree with paidContent’s Joseph Weisenthal when he says “If you hate the way MySpace looks, then you’ll probably hate the way MySpace Music looks. Yes, it’s a different design, but it’s still got that busy, glitzy feel that characterizes the site itself.”

MySpace Music should go into hiding and come back when it looks as good as Hulu.

News Corporation (NYSE:NWS.A) subsidiary MySpace.com has launched a new website to get teenagers talking about politics.  The new site is called MyDebates.org.  MyDebates will have live stream videos of the debates.  Users will also be able to submit questions for the October 7 Town Hall debate.  The Commission on Presidential Debates partnered with MySpace on this initiative.

“Our educational partnership with MySpace builds on the unique power of digital media to further engage voters on the issues and help ensure
their voices are heard in new and effective ways,” stated Janet Brown, Executive Director of the Presidential Debate Commission. “I’m confident that this is the best way for new media to intersect with the general election Presidential debates.”

MyDebates has an Issue Quiz that asks users how much do they care about taxes, social security, gun policies, free trade, abortion, environment, Iraq, immigration, the economy, health care, education, same-sex marriage, homeland security, and energy.  After answering questions, the quiz will suggest which candidate relates more to your views.  Users can add Flash badges on their MySpace profile or other websites depicting which candidate they favor. 

MyDebates will be live streaming the debates on 9/26, 10/2, 10/7, and 10/15 according to Ars Technica.

News Corporation (NYSE:NWS) subsidiary, MySpace.com is launching MySpace Music this week.  MySpace Music will allow users to buy songs from 3 out of 4 of the top recording companies.  In gearing up for the launch, MySpace has signed on platinum sponsors: McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM), and State Farm. 

“We haven’t made just a commercial deal with the labels, but a joint venture, so they are invested in our success,”stated Jeff Burman, President of Sales and Marketing. 

MySpace Music will have it’s social network built around it.  MySpace gained in popularity by originally targeting musicians to join the network.  From there it branched out to a broad range of entertainers and their fans.  MySpace gave instant celebrity cred to several artists like Tila Tequila, Lily Allen, and Gnarls Barkley.

One of the best new features of MySpace Music will be the availability of free music.  The free music includes tracks from artists: T.I., Kid Rock, U2, Christina Aguilera, and several others.  MySpace users will be able to create playlists on their profiles by visiting these artists’ profiles and adding the tracks available on them.

“Think about why people go to a music service,” stated MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe. “They go to
iTunes because they just want to get the songs and get out. MySpace is
different. It’s like going to your friend’s house, and they have cool
music playing in the background that makes the experience that much
better.”

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is looking forward to the launch too.  They have an alliance with MySpace.  MySpace Music driving sales for Amazon will loosen Apple’s dominant market-share on digital music. 

Yahoo! Music has thousands of songs and videos available on their site.  All of them are powered by advertisements.  MySpace is taking the same approach for their Music service.  MySpace has 300 salespeople driving advertisement providers to list their inventory on the social network.  The cost to advertisers will be about $10 per 1,000 plays.

The launch of MySpace Music this week will be huge.  I’ll cover it as additional details emerge.

[image: CRIenglish.com]

The CEO of News Corporation (NYSE:NWS) subsidiary MySpace China, Luo Chuan has resigned. This is slightly one year after Chuan brought the social network to China. Chuan used to be a Microsoft China executive.

Given the current market conditions in Asia, it is rather difficult to retain executives in some of the top technology companies based in countries like India and China. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) are struggling with similar problems.

There is a social network race happening in China with Xiaonei being one of the dominant players. Xiaonei is a replica of Facebook, but has more funding than the company that Mark Zuckerberg founded. Xiaonei has $430 million in funding. MySpace itself was acquired for $150 million more than what Xiaonei is funded with.

Wendi Murdoch, wife of News Corporation Chairman and CEO of News Corp Rupert Murdoch is also heavvily involved with MySpace China. Deng is the Director and Chief Strategist for the holding company that licenses MySpace technology. Prior to her involvement with MySpace China, she was VP of News Corp’s STAR TV in Hong Kong.

Once the P2 team finds out what Chuan is up to, we’ll be sure to report it.

“What you are seeing us doing with DHS and FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is the beginning of bigger things to come in the future,” stated MySpace chief security officer Hemanshu Nigam.

News Corporation (NYSE:NWS) subsidiary, MySpace.com has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA to provide information regarding hurricanes through the social network. This is especially important right now as many of those in New Orleans are evacuating in anticipation of being struck by Hurricane Gustav.

There is a widget available for all MySpace users that links their profile pages to federal information about how to find dislocated hurrican victims and how to help any victims. There is also ways to track of any other upcoming hurricanes.

“Tragedy often inspires people to do great things and this has happened here,” added Nigam. “It’s powerful and it’s using the power of the Web 2.0 media world to its fullest.”

The AFP has additional details.

What does Facebook and MySpace have in common?  Both of these social network companies hate spammers big time.  This is why both social networks are proactively taking spammers to court.

Facebook
About a week ago, Facebook filed a lawsuit against Adam Guerbuez.  Facebook hired Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe for the case.  Guerbuez hijacked user accounts on Facebook and sent over 4 million messages in order to market products such as penis enlargement pills.

MySpace
Similarly, MySpace won a case against Sanford “Spamford” Wallace and his business partner.  The penalty was $230 million.  And this past June, MySpace also won a case against Scott Richter, CEO of Media Breakaway for sending out unsolicited ads.  Ian Ballon of GreenbergTraurig represented MySpace in both cases.

CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
Who else doesn’t like spam?  The government.  This is why the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) law was passed.  According to the FTC, The CAN-SPAM Act “establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them.”

Lawyers use the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and the contractual agreement made when signing up for social networks to battle spammers.  John Dozier Jr. of Dozier Internet Law predicts that spam cases occurring on social networks will fade, but there will be an increase in cases for microblogging sites like Twitter.

Related Link:
1. Law.com

The King of Pop, Michael Jackson has launched an social network game application to promote his new album, King of Pop.  The new album is set to release on August 25.  The dance game application is available on Facebook, MySpace, and Bebo.  Jackson’s fans will be able to win prizes.  The gaming application allows users to control Michael’s dance moves.

Prizes will be awarded to the highest scores every hour and per day.  Hourly winners will get ringtones and daily winners will get iPod Nanos.  The top 5 highest scorers on each social network then make it to the next level.  The next level is when the top scorers face off against each other.  Two of the players will get plane tickets to go around the world.  Or the winners will get a Sony Bravia 32″ TV and a PS3.  Sony BMG partnered with GMTV and the Sun newspaper for this competition.

The application will be available starting tomorrow.

MySpace, the social network site owned by News Corporation (NYSE:NWS.A) is launching tomorrow with a new look.  MySpace hopes to bring in new users and keep old users coming.  MySpace’s homepage will be revamped and there will the navigation will be easier.  MySpaceTV will be redesigned. And even the search tool will be more advanced.  The first rollout will take place on Wednesday. 

News Corp. is hoping that rebranding the site will increase ad revenues with the new look & feel.  News Corporation was hoping to reach $1 billion in revenues from FOX Interactive Media, a subsidiary of the company that runs MySpace.  Dani Dudeck, a spokeswoman for MySpace stated that a major advertiser.  The New York Times revealed that is the makers of the new Batman movie.

MySpace has over 118 million users (73 million American) and Facebook has 36 million.  Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) paid MySpace $900 million to run the advertising in the profile pages of MySpace.  That deal will be expiring in 2009. 

Banzai is a show that is produced by RDF Media’s Radar division. Banzai is a slapstick comedy that spoofs Japanese gameshows and encourages viewers to bet on the outcomes. Mr. Banzai, the show’s host is played by opera singer, Masashi Fujimoto.

The location of the Banzai video channel is available here.

Some of the betting contests include: wheelchair mop jousting, grandmothers playing chicken in wheelchairs, egg eating competitions, and amputee soccer. The stunts performed on the show is similar to MTV’s Jackass.

MySpaceTV, a division of the MySpace social network has won the exclusive rights to the show for the video channel. Through this deal, MySpaceTV will have access to the clips 30 days before they air on TV. Banzai sometimes airs on FOX, USA, Comedy Central, and G4 in the U.S.

Below is a clip of one of the more popular segments: squirrel fishing.
Squirrel Fishing