Someone else's space

I quit Myspace today.

It was like one of those relationships that had never worked from the start but you tell yourself that it's better than nothing. Initially, you're flattered by the attention, by all the possibilities and new personalities. Then, after the 25th band you've never heard of - but who are a friend of a friend of a friend you've never met - get in touch, you start to wonder: 'Is this really for me?'

At first you figure that, if you keep on trying, you'll find a way to make it work. You get caught up with how time and effort you've put into it and how you don't want the other people to feel ignored. Or else you try and collect as many people as possible, treating superficial contacts the same way that Blue Peter used to treat milk bottle tops.

My intention was to meet and collaborate with other writers, and also performers who wanted to work with writers. I have to say that I 'met' some really nice people, for a time. But the truth is that the doers out there tended not to have time to report back on Myspace. It works for bands, I think, because you can add tracks and people can listen to them on your page. Not so for scripts, unless you record them, and I'm not sure the world is ready yet for my nasally tones.*

I was sorry to leave because it was a recognition that my experiment had largely failed. But that's okay. I console myself with the knowledge that I hadn't unduly pimped my profile nor spent excessive time shouting out to my community daily - all 24 of them.

I did learn a few things though; I call it my Beginner's Guide to Myspace and it's a handful of useful definitions:
1. Friend - A person who wants to sell you something, even an idea.
2. Site - an often garish attempt at creativity that proves the opposite.
3. Community - a whole bunch of people all simultaneously trying to sell one another stuff.
4. Comments - a facility to use other people's sites to try and sell your own stuff.
5. Kudos - an arbitrary pat on the back to encourage others to do the same with you, thus undermining and devaluing the whole kudos economy.

And who knows, maybe some of the gang will pop across and read my blog!

* This may have to change, because I'm working on a demo comedy CD of my own material.

Derek Thompson