Sometime around 10:30 pm PST tonight, MySpace began blocking videos embedded on MySpace pages that originate from Photobucket. This is a major blackout, affecting millions of embedded videos. Photobucket images and slideshows are not affected. Videos from competitors like YouTube are still working fine.
As with previous outages, embedded videos work fine until the user makes any edit to their profile. At that time, links to Photobucket are automatically replaced with “…” or removed, causing the embed to fail.
Photobucket has north of 40 million registered users.
This is turning into a habit for MySpace, which usually claims bugs, security issues or terms of service violations were the cause of a shut down. In January MySpace mysteriously shut down all Flash widgets on the site for 2.5 hours. An Imeem blockade came next. Vidilife, Stickam and Revver have been permanently banned.
Today’s shutdown of Photobucket comes suspiciously close to news that Photobucket is up for sale (Fox, MySpace’s parent company, was notoriously rumored to be furious when YouTube sold to Google). It seems that just when a company starts to break out from the pack, MySpace finds a security breach and shuts them down. Even though MySpace has flat out denied it to us, it is our belief that these blockages are meant to send a clear message to widget companies - don’t forget that MySpace is in charge.
More as this develops. I have a request for comment into MySpace PR, but I don’t expect to hear back from them until the morning.
Update: see The Photobucket blog for more details (read the comments to that post - Photobucket users are really angry.
Update: Photobucket CEO Alex Welch just sent me the following email:
Mike,
Tonight MySpace took the decision to prevent Photobucket users from posting
certain types of media to their MySpace pages.This action by MySpace means that millions of pieces of content created by
our users may no longer be available on MySpace. This content represents
hundreds of thousand hours of effort on the part of our users – hours
invested using the editing, remixing and management tools and features
available only on Photobucket. Conservative estimates put one in every two
page views on MySpace containing content from Photobucket users. This step
will have a drastic affect on the usability and appeal of MySpace.More importantly, by limiting the ability of its users to personalize their
pages with content from any source, MySpace, is contradicting the very ethos
of personal and social media. MySpace became successful because of the
creativity of its users and because it offered a forum for self-expression.
By severely restricting this freedom, MySpace is showing that it considers
its users a commodity which it can treat as it sees fit.Faced with the prospect of recreating their content using only the limited
resources available on MySpace, we believe users will vote with their feet
(and their keyboards) and turn instead to the other sites that Photobucket
links to on a daily basis. Photobucket users link to 300,000 different Web
sites every day from their Photobucket albums – MySpace is just one of those
sites. This action by MySpace in no way affects Photobucket albums. The
content remains available in user albums for linking to other Web sites,
discussion boards, forums, e-commerce sites and blogs.At Photobucket, we’ve seen a steady and growing trend by users towards
linking to a range of social networks – not just MySpace. If MySpace
persists in blocking Photobucket and other personal media sites, users will
transfer their loyalties to a combination of these networks. Photobucket’s
business model is built on allowing users to support multiple identities by
providing a central resource for creating, enhancing, managing and sharing
their content. Our business is in no way dependent on being able to link to
MySpace alone.We believe this action by MySpace is a retrograde step in the evolution of
the Web and an unacceptable attempt to limit the freedom of the very people
who are its lifeblood – its users.-alex
I’m sorry, but I am just a stoopid old man.
That was one of our first lessons after launch: embeds are great, but only as complimentary traffic to the traffic of our main site. It’ll take a while before this space matures, until then I’d stay away from launching any service relies *heavily* on embeds traffic from FEW select sources.
-Zaid
If something like this is going to happen again in the future, even if MySpace blames bugs, security issues or whatever reason as the cause, we are unlikely to believe that.
You just don’t block contents from a site which has 38 million members.
MySpace is really shooting itself in the foot by doing this. At one point they started blocking YouTube videos, or so my musician uncle who’s a regular user of the site told me. It didn’t last, because they risked losing their userbase.
The only reason people my age (18) who I know still use MySpace is to “friend” musicians they’re into. Everyone’s moved onto Facebook, and more recently, Virb.
Forcing users to upload their videos to MySpace instead of YouTube, Photobucket, etc. is a very bad move, in my opinion. Musicians and artists upload videos to sites they feel offer them adequate terms (ie. don’t steal their copyright) or share revenue (Revver).
I’m not sure if it’s a case of the block not being fully rolled out or already being reversed, but Photobucket videos are working fine in my profile.
@David
It probably applies to new videos posted. Myspace uses a filter on post data to strip out these things. So if the code is already there it will continue to work until replaced.
Its a nail in the… you know
David, see my second paragraph above. I just added that, explaining how these blockades work.
Sean - actually, no. Any edit to a profile page will strip out photobucket videos, so this affects all videos, not just new ones.
The beginning of the end, huh?
It’s quite clear News Corp don’t understand that social networking sites serve users, not the owners. Their fad status won’t last much longer.
TC forum topic started for anyone interested in discussing this in more detail.
http://forums.techcrunch.com/f.....eadID=2301
This is definitely a bold move by MySpace. They don’t want people to ride their coat tails I suppose.
This just explains why you can never count on others for your success. I believe things like this happen on daily basis, where the smaller guy is counting on the bigger guy to survive and every morning when you wake up, you just hope that he bigger guy is still around and is OK with you taking a small piece of the pie.
i would think that the best way to solve these ‘bugs’ is to create a revenue model for MySpace. I am pretty sure if a simple, very very brief ad was placed in each PhotoBucket account that links to MySpace was shared with them, you would have no problem with these so-called ‘bugs’. The name of the game is advertising revenue.
This is a childish and not to mention foolish move, something you would expect to see in a kindergarten playground.
Are people really that blind to corporate greed?
a place for friends….
Yea this is no good, there was also a similar issues recently with indie911.com and Tila Tequila (One of MySpace’s most popular members)
Well there goes $100 million off the valuation of PhotoBucket.
If Myspace dont reinstate them its going to be:
a) A massive fking pain for users.
b) A massive pain for PhotoBucket and a plausible Acquisition.
c) A warning sign that Myspace can crush any businesses it wants.
d) Dont build your business so inherently depending on Myspace.
e) Make deals with Fox before attempting to get your content on Myspace.
My 2 cents
I think this is further evidence that MySpace is declining, and this move just highlights that they really need to start rethinking who they are fundamentally and where they want to be heading in the coming year(s). If they do not re-evaluate soon, there are a lot of (better) social networking sites just sitting ready to help users make the conversion…
Work with your users MySpace, not against.
Cheers.
If the “valuation” of Photobucket goes down for this then congratulations to the people who are going to buy it, because Photobucket is just as healthy as a company without Myspace as with it.
Why? Because Photobucket has been around before Web 2.0 and has only expanded under the current circumstances. They will live even if Myspace permanently banned ALL things from Photobucket. Guaranteed.
On another note, this really does make me want to ditch my profile. I would if i didn’t already know that i’d end up making another one anyways. It will stay addictive no matter what anyone does to it unless a massive movement strips it dry. I don’t see that happening any time soon, and even if it does myspace will roll out a few extra features and get everyone back anyways.
Fuck myspace.
I just posted a Photobucket video into my MySpace page and it worked just fine! Maybe it’s because I have an artist page and it still works there?
Google have a history too of being in control of other companies destinies. The Search results change every so often as google tweek and with this, the fallout for many top ranking sites begins. Companies such as photobucket have made there success off the back of the user base of myspace. Myspace are in control and have the power to cut them off at lib, so why not? Just because Photobucket has grown big does not mean that they shouldn’t be shown who’s the boss. If Photobucket are selling out, then you can be very sure they are in discussions with newscorp and those discussions have gone sour. In which case newscorp shows them the door. Sure there will be a fallout, but myspace aren’t the ones currently looking for a buyer and that is the bottom line. If your going to buy a company, you want it at the lowest price possible, there are those in this league that use competitive intelligence and tactics as such that think nothing of bringing a company to its knees before any acquisition talks.
video works so whats all the fuss?
Who cares …VIRB is where its at?!
testuser,
It didn’t when Mike made this post. Looks like it was another “bug.”
MySpace is my property and no one can tell me what to do about it. I paid a whopping $580 Million for it and now MySpace could as well be the 11th largest country of the world.
If you want to build your business behind my back, then you will pay dearly for this. I only allow YouTube videos, as I am in talks with Google for a possible buyout of MySpace. That acqusition will be the biggest ever in history. A minimum of $5 Billion. Watch that space!
Photobucket was flying under the radar. They wanted to hop into the web 2.0 game along with everyone else and make a big pay day. They hired an exec from eBay, he got them funding. They spent lots of money, they did PR moves and said they were profitable (they were BEFORE funding, not after - a rookie PR mistake, since PR folks lack a linear perspective on time, but we’ll let Prof Hawkins debate the entire concept with the biz folks at PhotoBucket). After getting traction and an ROI from their PR firm, they attempt a sale since their drum beating was successful. VC’s want to profit while the fire is hot and before Google’s Picasaweb takes over (it’s amazing, FYI - and worth running on Parallels over iPhoto natively) because flipping a company is the cool thing to do and Roelof can’t be the only rich and cool VC in town.
And here is why MySpace doesn’t like videos on their sites from outside companies. Less videos on their site and more on MySpace means less inventory for MySpace to sell, and therefore less profit for the people owned by the folks that bring us Faux News.
But I feel so lost: the key issue is *why* they cock-blocked Photobucket’s attempt at flipping. What happened on that phone call between these companies that led to this? What was it they were trying to negotiate from Photobucket?
MySpace needs to come right out and just specifically state that they have a toll to pay before playing in their site about sex, er majestical musical playground with some of the world most creative uses of colors and textures that are roughly akin to a 13 year old color blind girl’s Geocities web page. That would make things easier for everyone in the end, wouldn’t it? It’s like a girl you mess around with one night drunk at a SoCal bar on The Sunset - she gets you turned on and then she asks for 50$ before you get to 2nd base. Yeah, it sucks that she teased you, but if you knew she was going to do that before you ever got involved, then you’d know to avoid her or go to that first date armed with 200$ and the address for the closet local clinic.
Hi MySpace folks - there is a quick and easy to make even more of a profit: charge the spammers and legit companies rather than just deleting their accounts. Monetizing things like corporate profile seems quick and easy (though then you get to fight guerilla marketers trying to make “fans of” profiles). Making money off of the millions of spammers posting links to online p0rn webcams means you could fund the Faux News channel that much longer to seed the world with BS propaganda and to make up for the fact that ratings are down.
Without MySpace, Photobucket’s worth is going down, ahem, the bucket (admit it - you saw that coming). Lest we forget such amazing video sites like Google Video and YouTube, both, eh, Google properties, which are clear and present alternatives to Photobuckets video offering. And doesn’t Google have some sweet ass search deal with MySpace? Nahh, that couldn’t be the case simply because Google isn’t evil. It’s the toll booth rationale.
But I’m probably wrong and I’m sure the MySpace PR folks have a perfectly legitimate, rational and clearly worded statement for their course of action. I’ll watch it on Faux News later.
“Terrorists post training videos on Photobucket’s video site - MySpace responds by valianty blocking them in the name of justice, freedom and loyalty to The Texan Fuehrer.”
Talking of News International giving start ups a hard time, anyone else see an opportunity for the French Government to enter Web 2.0 with son of Minitel?
The sad part is, when a lot of Photobucket users notice the videos not working, they’ll place the blame on Photobucket rather than on MySpace. I’d say most users will just change to a different host rather than switch social network. If this is a permanent thing on MySpace’s part, Photobucket is going to get hit extremely hard.
VIRB is the new myspace
The more this happens the more it devalues myspace. As users are continually consored by myspace, they will seek other places to share their thoughts, art, videos, and other means of multimedia self expression. myspace should just do a permanent redirect to murdockspace.com, as everyone who uses it is finding that censoring is making it less and less yourspace and more of a foxspace.
I look forward to other avenues of self expressing social networks cropping up that do not play these ridiculous games. AdultsOnlySpace is being launched exactly for these reasons. Myspace was built on cool self expression, it is obvious to everyone that it is becoming more and more commercialspace. Didn’t Tom promise this kind of thing would never happen?
Rofl @ Geocities site.
I second what Bill Bob said, with minor arguments on whether or not Photobucket is valuable without Myspace.
How about some anti-competitive legal action?
“Even though MySpace has flat out denied it to us, it is our belief that these blockages are meant to send a clear message to widget companies - don’t forget that MySpace is in charge.”
Actually, MySpace would do well to realize that screwing with a giant widget company like Photobucket can cost you your users.
Lacking any competitive advantages of it’s own aside from the size of it’s community, means MySpace is playing a very dangerous game of chicken. Perhaps they know the majority of their users well enough to say, “our site is like crack. No one is going anywhere.” I, for one, don’t think that’s the case and think MySpace is missing out on a massive revenue opportunity to charge for widget/plug-in use.
“I, for one, don’t think that’s the case and think MySpace is missing out on a massive revenue opportunity to charge for widget/plug-in use.”
Charge who? The users or the widget companies? The problem is, as soon as MySpace starts limiting what widgets/services users can use, they put themselves in the position of having to compete with more attractive sites that don’t have these limitations. It’s a game of chicken that MySpace has no chance of winning.
People need to get a LIFE. All the hours of lost work embedding crap on their myspace page. Get a grip people, seriously
This is so boring. “Site a” owns provides people with a free service and suddenly decides to deny “site b”, which has a product that relies on “site a”. So? Shooting yourself in the foot? I can not see how.
Maybe time for “site b” to put some cash into the business relationship with “site a”.
Prediction: Myspace will sell licenses soon to companies like photobucket who want their media to display on myspace.
Bravo Myspace, extremely smart.
MySpace is smart- they have the traction, they might as well leverage it. Now they just have to get users to use MySpace Videos.
That’s why Facebook is smarter. No one is complaining that Facebook doesn’t allow Photobucket videos- because they never did. Better to be a closed system from the start than lurch into it late in the game.
“We believe this action by MySpace is a retrograde step in the evolution of
the Web and an unacceptable attempt to limit the freedom of the very people who are its lifeblood – its users.”
Blah blah blah blah…
Get a clue! I’m sick of this namby-pamby web2.0 “the user is king” pandering speeches. Alex, admit it. What you’re ACTUALLY saying is.
“We are outraged because GODAMMIT we are trying to get SOLD!”
this is so NOT web2.0
…. still myspace isnt as great as they think it is, its just an ordinary chain friend website…. which illegal pedo runs wild… still 1 sick website …
this is proof that myspace will implode over greed. web 2.0 is about sharing and about horizontal business models. myspace is not doing either very well and when 2nd and 3rd gen social networks hit the scene myspace will not be able to catch up.
I never understood why MySpace got so big in the first place. It is hard to find uglier pages and they just let their users botch the design to oblivion. They just break every good design rule ever conceived, then slap on some annoying music with no “Off” button. If people behaved in real life like they do on MySpace I’d smack them with a shovel!
The sad part in all this is that people will just adapt to whatever bratty measures MySpace adopts. They ban one site, people will upload their videos to another. You can’t expect 18 year olds to have any sense of the bigger picture. They can’t grasp how MySpace’s hostile actions are selfish and go against the base philosophy of the Web. Without linking, there is no web. Without mashups, there is no Web 2.0.
I just hope this childish behavior turns around and bites them in the ass. The Web was a nicer place before MySpace brought all these unwashed brats along.
It all depends on whats under the table.
http://startupcrunch.org/sound.....with_audio
Inside story: this is an advertising issue. Photobucket started serving branded by advertiser ‘remixes’ and MySpace won’t allow them to do that on MySpace. That’s serving an ad on MySpace. MySpace called Photobucket and told them they were going to block the advertisement and asked them to change the link so they could block just the ad, and not other content and Photbucket said no. Photobucket CEO is playing high and mighty, but its not about user choice, it’s about displaying ads on user pages.
Fox responsible for a step backwards in website functionality? How could this be possible?
There are no ads when Photobucket posts to MySpace! MySpace got it wrong. Ads are all over on Photobucket’s web site. Remixes and videos on MySpace do NOT have ads. None that I’ve seen anyhow.
Minggl users can put whatever they want (including ads) on their profiles (even HTML on Facebook) and because the content is added at the client by the browser plug in, the social sites can’t block it. You can even set passwords or attribute filters on specific content so only the right people can see your premium stuff
Face it folks, this is MySpace playing hardball and shooting across PhotoBucket’s bow to send a message on who the 800lb gorilla is. It is also clear from Alex’s letter/email that he knows that MySpace is the 800lb gorilla despite his decries about the potential impact to MySpace usability, how MySpace is contradicting the very ethos of personal and social media, and that this action by MySpace in no way affects Photobucket albums (well it does, otherwise Alex won’t have bothered with his outcry), etc…
Maybe Photobucket should block traffic from MySpace, ha. Let the dance begin…
Myspace sucks. There is no freedom. They delete people’s profiles. I don’t see the point in creating a myspace profile anyway, when they are so happy with that delete button. Even you make it private, they find some way in getting rid of you.