MySpace Users Want the Old Look Back

Story includes link to petition.

Photo: AFP

(SALEM, Ore.) - A new petition drive seeks to see MySpace return to its old days and re-simplify the site so that people can again have an unfiltered place stripped of the unnecessary bells and whistles.

MySpace.com took the world by storm, becoming the most popular social networking site in June 2006. In the wake of MySpace we have seen Facebook take over the social communication aspect of the Internet, while MySpace has become an ever changing for the worse, hard to navigate overloaded Website used for band promotion, weird sales pitches, and games that I personally don't participate in.

Facebook took the number one slot in the social network world in April 2008, with an approach that made it seem more adult-like, and 'safer' than MySpace. I have to say though that I haven't had a good feeling about Facebook for a long time. If you post anything to do with medical marijuana, it is likely to get yanked. The same holds true for stories or images that reflect the struggle of the people of Palestine.

It is true that MySpace, like Craigslist and other popular sites, can be used by sex trolls and criminals, so can any of these sites for that matter. But Facebook is the fascist network site in my opinion and it does not reflect a sense of freedom with controversial subjects.

Today, Beverly Hills, California-based MySpace. is owned by News Corp. Digital Media, which is a division of News Corporation. That of course, is the FOX network, i.e. Rupert Murdoch.

He may qualify as the least trustworthy, most hard right wing media mogul in the world, but he never made MySpace take on those filtering characteristics referenced above that are so problematic at Facebook, and he deserves credit for that. 'Adult' apparently translates to 'censored' in this day and age and I disagree with the concept.

Wikipedia states that Myspace still employs 1,000 people after its June 2009 layoff of off 30 percent of its workforce. Quantcast estimates that MySpace sees 43.2 million U.S. unique visitors per month.

I used MySpace for years in the creation of slide shows for Salem-News.com. With their latest redesign, I can't find any option for creating slideshows. As a result of that, I am now using the company kizoa.com/ for slideshows and I'm happy with it. I'm now using MySpace for absolutely nothing except an alternate video upload site, and I only have that need once in a while when YouTube is down.

You can see part of the petition below and beneath that is a link so you can sign it. I did it and I hope a large number of people do the same.

The original MySpace was the best there was, in my opinion. You were able to style your page to fit the way you wanted it too. You could make it look how YOU wanted it to look.

Now, MySpace is forcing everyone to convert to the new 3.0 version. BUT, there's tons of people out there who prefer the 1.0 version, or the 2.0 version. Why should we have to switch to something we don't like? Obviously, that's going to make people leave MySpace, which is exactly what's been happening.

MySpace isn't losing people because it's "old" or "not cool" anymore. It's because they keep making these ridiculous changes which they like to call "improvements" because they think it will make them more popular. It's not. It's making them lose more and more people. MySpace thinks they're getting better, but they're really getting worse, and losing their originality which was the core reason people liked them.

Ever since Tom sold MySpace, it's gone to complete shit. They keep trying to "make it better" by making it look like other social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc,. Just like on Facebook, you can "like" stuff now. And people who AREN'T even on your friends list can "like" your stuff. It may just be me, but I think that's not right, at all. They've become so unoriginal.

Petition site: Bring Back The Original MySpace!

The business world has a historical pattern of changing existing products that are very good, and replacing them with items that are not fully tested and evaluated. We're talking about everything from glass soda pop bottles, Taco Bell Enchirito and automotive designs, to Windows operating systems. I can't recall the number of times I wished manufacturers would just leave things alone. Let's see MySpace return to its roots.

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 65 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com