"Code crack" for Gen W
Posted on Saturday, March 18, 2006
at 2:31 AM (permalink)
What if in the process of cynically promoting the next, next, next new thing, what Halley Suit has called "the Viagra of the current business boom," we built something that actually did change the way people used computers and the Internet? As Kathy Sierra discovers MySpace is doing for her teenage daughter:
"I wonder if quick release cycles become almost addictive to the end users... we're so used to thinking of how upset they'll be when we change things, but clearly this is a different (and frickin' HUGE) group of users who not only don't mind the change--they THRIVE on it. Perhaps those quick releases are a little like quick fixes. Code Crack."
Kathy, you seriously buried your lead. In a comment on Kathy's post, Matt Moran identifies the multi-generational response to MySpace (Gen W, Gen Y, Gen X, Boomer):
"Much younger people use it as a social hub, people my age use it as a resource to connect and reacquaint, those older analyze it, then beyond that people don't 'get it' and criticize and predict how it will be the end all to any real social interaction."
In keeping with Matt's market segmentation, Scott Karp better be a Boomer, or he is old before his time: "I will say this -- my greatest fear of MySpace is as a parent. That's my personal view, which I won't try to foist on to anyone else. But as Web 2.0 watcher, I have a strong view from a business perspective, which leads me to this prediction: Rupert Murdoch will come to regret the purchase of MySpace."
