MySpace stops all external widgets

March 1, 2007
by Björn Jeffery
Good Old Trend

User-generated haven MySpace recently made the bold move to stop Widgets from running on user pages. Users were adding widgets to their gaudy pages to play songs, videos, the weather. A few weeks ago, MySpace decided to block all widgets that weren’t MySpace widgets – maybe as a step towards commercializing the content on the user generated pages.

(PSFK)

Feeding the MySpace beast obviously doesn’t apply any more. I can understand that MySpace don’t like the leeching, but their success had never become as great if it wasn’t for all the add-ons.

I think it’s a mistake to throw them out. Users both know and like Slide.com and Photobucket – making them switch to MySpace clone services won’t be an obvious step for everyone. Providing an arena for users to create and interact is great, but don’t dictate how they should be doing it.

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The Author

Björn Jeffery is a Swedish technology columnist, advisor, and independent analyst based in Malmö, Sweden. He is the technology columnist for Svenska Dagbladet and co-hosts a podcast for the newspaper. He was previously CEO and co-founder of Toca Boca, the kids’ media company that grew to over one billion downloads. Through his advisory practice, Outer Sunset AB, he works with companies on digital strategy, consumer culture, governance, growth, and international expansion.