It's been an interesting little journey I've been on lately.  It started out as me trying to figure out a way to create a decentralized application framework.  That led me to explore decentralized cross-domain communication in the form of XMPP.  That led me to explore decentralized online identity.  That led me to explore semantic Web work, and then eventually to social networks.  Which led me to MySpace, of all things.

As anyone who keeps an eye on this blog regularly knows, I detest MySpace.  I think its design is terrible, it holds data hostage, it doesn't play well with others, and its owner, Fox News, is a prick, if you can call a company that.  However, MySpace is super-popular.

The only reason I really care, however, is because I'm now pretty sure that social networks are the doorway to unified online identity (as I wrote about here).  So as long as MySpace is the 5000-lb gorilla in that area, any kind of really useful online identity is nothing more than a pipe dream.  I kind of think of MySpace as King Kong's evil twin that would have given the girl a cease and desist order because she tried to teach him how to love.

So in order to eventually reach my dream of a digital utopia, I think it's necessary to take a few steps back from the technical details that really get my blood pumping and talk about how to kill the MySpace gorilla.  I do believe that the ultimate solution has to be an open decentralized social network, with identity baked in, but put in those terms, it's hardly going to get the average person excited. 

So what makes MySpace the de facto standard for the average person right now?  And what will it take for an open social network to start being real competition for it?  Well, for starters, there's no way a new social network will gain traction like MySpace did.  MySpace was started with a massive spam campaign and massive media advertising.  Spam leaves a bad taste in my mouth (both the real thing and unsolicited email), and I don't think anyone wants to fund a massive media campaign to try to take on MySpace.  So what to do?

I think it would be a worthwhile exercise to take a look at what drives people to MySpace, besides the spam and the market traction they already have.  So I've been talking to the heavy MySpace users I know, and here's what I found:

1. People love pimping their online rides in the form of pages that I find truly disgusting to look at.  However, what I think is irrelevant--people want to express their individuality online.  They like the fact that it costs no money to get a new set of rims and a paintjob for their MySpace page, versus a couple grand in the real world for their car.  They consider their MySpace page an extension of their personality.  Raining text, flashing backgrounds, dancing gif's... all the things that make my eyeballs beg for mercy, the average person apparently loves.
2. User control.  One thing MySpace does do well is not restrict the users.  They can start a page for their band, their dog, their cat, their hair, and their car if they want.  If you're a company that's trying to use MySpace for profit, or piggyback on its success, it will send you a cease and desist, but it lets its users run wild.
3. Music.  People like adding music to their page.  I don't know why, it doesn't appeal to me, but it kept coming up.
4. Showing off friends.  People like to show off how many people they know.  It's the online equivalent of being one of the cool kids.
5. Connecting with other... things.  People like the fact that they can affiliate themselves with bands, strip clubs, dogs and cats.  For some reason the act of establishing some sort of loose relationship with "something" makes people feel good and gives them a sense of belonging.

All in all, I got the sense that the most important thing is that MySpace allows people to express their personalities online.  The huge community of MySpace themes and hacks also helps, because people can browse for an "identity" that they really like and connect with, and use it for their page.  I don't think anyone I know besides me has the basic, default MySpace page.

I don't think any of the other social networks out there right now get this.  And I've tried them all, I think.  The correct user interface is not what your Web designers think is the best, it's what the users think is the best.  In fact, even though I quite literally hate the MySpace interface, it may be the best default layout simply because it's what all of the existing MySpace users are familiar with.  I don't think the average person has enough exposure to Web applications to quickly grasp a brand new user interface.  Instead, leverage the time they have invested in learning how to use MySpace.

The user interface problem is certainly solvable.  But more importantly, I think the real MySpace killer is eventually going to be when the average person grasps this key idea:

Your online identity is valuable.  It is making money, whether you realize it or not.  Would you like to A) Keep the money for yourself, B) Give the money to charity, or C)  Continue giving it to Fox News Corporation. 

This message will need to be drilled into the public's collective head until they understand it.  By blog, by email, by IM, by word of mouth, by carrier pigeon, by t-shirts, by MySpace itself... any way we can think of to spread this message.  MySpace needs to be turned into a evil corporate villain in the eyes of the average person.  They need to see MySpace as a rich fat cat that's profiting from their hard work.  They need to see that Fox News Corporation is trying to strengthen its stranglehold on their identity every day. MySpace needs to go from "cool" to "uncool".