[iDC] MySpace staff cuts

[Trebor Scholz]

"And this is just one aspect of what costs money inside large social
media operations.  There are a lot more parallels to cities than one
might think.  And just like it takes money to run the police force and
maintain the sewer system, it takes money to keep social media sites
functioning.  Someone's gotta foot the bill."

Hi Danah, 
Great to hear from you.
Well, you are right but that does not mean that no profit is being made.
(We had that same discussion at the New School last year. )

> The operating costs of online intermediaries --and MySpace in particular--
> are considerable and while the
> profits may not be as astronomical as analysts in Silicon Valley may have
> hoped, the corporate gains from the commoditization of networked publics are
> not a product of the imagination.

Trebor