Kid-published content

Business Week looks at the phenomenon of self-published media and how terrified conventional media companies are (or should be) of it. It's half of this new phase of the Net we're experiencing (the other half being its mobile, multiplatform, 24/7 nature), and it explains MySpace's popularity – as well as MySpace's growing competition. An example: myYearbook.com, founded a year ago during spring break by two high school students, now with 2.3 million visitors a month (home-page selling points: "Vote for 'Best Butt' in Your School!" and "Bully, Flirt, & Secretly Admire Everyone!"). One of Business Week's sources "likens social network sites to teens' fervently decorated rooms and notebooks" of the "olden days." Now, somewhat similarly to "American Idol," they can display their talent (and themselves, of course), for all – not just a few friends who come over - to see and comment on, then instantly take it down and go in a different direction. It's the allure of customization plus socialization (local or global, whichever one prefers), and it's easier than ever to experiment with so many free tech tools at our fingertips.