The weather has finally cleared up this morning and it looks to be a wonderful summer's day in Joburg once again. Hoorah.
I've been reading with interest about the problems with MySpace and pornogrpahy/paedophilia. And people seem surprised by this! Remember when instant messaging first appeared on our monitors and the uproar it caused? I certainly do.
The question is, who should be policing this? MySpace can only do so much. It's a public domain after all. You could say that the parents should be policing their kids, but remember how sneaky we all were as teenagers? The truth is, kids need to be educated on what can really happen out there in the big bad world. A recent story broke in one of the US newspapers about a teenage boy, who had just emerged out of the closet and met another teenage boy in MySpace. With the blessing of his parents, he invited his new friend over for dinner and a sleepover. The teenage visitor was actually a 27 year old convicted paedophile who molested the young boy. His parents were quoted as saying 'that they slept in separate rooms'. Now really. Gay teenage boys - in separate rooms. Come on.
Anyway, off the point. The point is, that everyone needs to take some responsibility for roaming around in MySpace. According to a recent article in AdAge.com, community spaces such as MySpace is giving marketers the jitters. However, those savvy enough to sit down and think carefully about positioning as well as taking short-term contracts so that ads can be pulled at the drop of a hat shouldn't have too much trouble. And let's face it, 56 million users on one site. Surely this is too good to miss. For the full report go to MySpace: Big Audience, But Big Risks