Facebook MySpace Mashup and other underwhelming news
Facebook and MySpace announced Thursday that MySpace would employ Facebook Connect across its site, finally ending the battle between the social media giants, in a program called Mashup with Facebook. According to an article on BetaNews, the partnership means that the recently announced entertainment personalization features would now be powered by publicly available information from the users’ profiles. Users will also be able to connect their status updates together, allowing Facebook statuses and “likes” to show up on MySpace.
What this really means for users: You can put your likes and interests from Facebook into MySpace, which will then use that data and offer personalized recommendations for other likes. But many opponents, like me, are asking: So what? Who uses MySpace anymore to connect with friends? Many people are only using the site to discover the music from bands that have yet to hit the mainstream.
"We are thrilled to further our collaboration with Facebook through Mashup with Facebook," MySpace CEO Mike Jones said in a statement. "This new feature is a great illustration of our strategy around social entertainment and enabling the real-time stream."
The Mashup unveiling is just the tip of the iceberg when it came to this week’s announcements in technology and social media. Facebook announced that it would integrate users’ messages into a modern messaging system and Apple made a big hullabaloo over a day that we’ll never forget over the announcement that Beatles music will now be available on iTunes. So what?
Are these massive corporations just looking for an excuse to hold press conferences and make big “announcements” to cause a buzz in the media world?
