[iDC] MySpace staff cuts

[danah boyd]

Well, I would argue that MySpace and Facebook are just more honest  
about their for-profit status than most government enterprises.   
Personally, I'd rather see institutions incentivized by open for- 
profit competition than dirty corruption, vender backroom dealing, and  
other such nonsense. If you don't think that the government has become  
for-profit, you're delusional. Or you haven't spent enough time on the  
Hill.

On Jun 25, 2009, at 10:34 AM, Trebor Scholz wrote:

> "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
>
>
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------

"taken out of context, i must seem so strange" -- ani
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/
http://www.danah.org/
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