Ken Yarmosh – Product Strategist and Technology Connoisseur

Back in May, MySpaceIM finally launched after much anticipation. But it really hasn’t caught on – I downloaded it then and to this point, virtually no one I know is using it.

Well, it looks like MySpace is ready to change that. MySpaceIM is now prominently being advertised on the home page of the site.

One of the ideas I presented in my original analysis was in relation to AIM Pages versus MySpaceIM. My thought was that the end game saw MySpace being in a better position than AOL – it’s easier to import buddies into a new app (MySpaceIM) than to create a whole other profile (AIM Pages).

Just to clarify, I don’t see MySpaceIM replacing AIM for those who are already AIM users. It’s too easy to run both applications together and AIM users are very loyal. MySpaceIM just puts MySpace in a better position for potential users who do not use either service at this point. The network effects for MySpace are simply too compelling for new users to pass up (now serving 97 million MySpacers). MySpaceIM is only going to strengthen the MySpace Effect.

As I’ve seen more and more social networks launch, there definitely seemed to be an evolution happening. The concept of the “Smart” Social Network dawned on me after I learned about Multiply. At that point, I already knew about Vox and previously wrote about imbee, so I decided to write a post on what I thought was a “Smart” Social Network. My recent piece at Read/Write Web is the result.

Essentially, a Smart Social Network brings intelligence into the network. It provides a way to define and describe virtual relationships – it gives users more control.

Richard actually added some valuable thoughts to this one, particularly in the conclusion. I hope you will take a peak – Smart Social Networks:

But what if there was a way to put access controls around your personal details, so that only people you trust can see it? There’s a new type of SNS arising that enables exactly that….

“Smart” Social Networks – A Better Way to Connect

Smart social networks are bringing intelligence into the network. Similar to the real world, they are helping users describe their online relationships. Let’s take a look at some of today’s evolving “smart” social networks: Facebook, imbee, Vox, and Mulitply.

TechCrunch is reporting that third-party MySpace widgets such as those by the ever popular YouTube are no longer allowed to have link throughs. This move is due to recent past security issues, including a flash based worm “that had spread far and wide through the site and sent users to an off site page claiming that the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks”:

Just as javascript has been unusable in MySpace, most flash objects are also now unable to link out to third party sites when viewed with Flash player 9. MySpace users are now being encouraged to download a beta version of Flash 9 in order to view MySpace hosted video. When they do so, almost all other widgets (YouTube, etc) no longer link out to third party sites because of code inserted by MySpace after a security breach last weekend. Some flash widgets appear unaffected but there is no clear reason why. Being displayed in a music section profile is the only thing that I and several friends could see as different between the few widgets that still link out and those that don’t.

What’s happening with MySpace is not dissimilar from what we saw occur with Oodle, when craigslist pulled their data. This change holds some pretty huge implications, including that so many new web services have been betting on the MySpace strategy to spur adoption and grow their userbase. Herein lies the problem of what we perceive is the “new web”. It’s not always as open and social, as we make it out to be. People are still concerned about dollar $igns.

Indeed, MySpace is showing more and more that they are very concerned about maintaining and protecting their little world from others monopolizing on and monteizing their investment (think SingleStat.us, DatingAnyone, and other services they shutdown). In other words, if you want to take advantage of MySpace, then fork over the cash for advertising.

MySpace was clever with this move though – they didn’t stop those widgets from being on the site. That would have caused a huge backlash from the MySpace crowd. Instead, they put an additional step between the widget and the user. Now, they have to do a search for the widget, instead of just clicking it. With the pathetic attention span of most MySpacers, that’s actually pretty significant (and at the same time, quite sad).