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Rory Cellan-Jones

MySpace and 大象传媒 - friend or foe?

  • Rory Cellan-Jones
  • 24 Jan 08, 07:04 GMT

Now here's an interesting thing. On the very day we - in 大象传媒 News - are running a rather negative story about and just how difficult it can be to , our colleagues at 大象传媒 Worldwide have signed a major deal with the biggest social networking site. A good way of proving a) how impartial we are and b) how no two parts of the 大象传媒 know what each other is up to.

The deal with MySpace TV is not the first to see 大象传媒 content made available for free on outside websites - there are a number of 大象传媒 Youtube channels and there's a deal to show programmes on Bebo.

But as far as I can tell, this is the first time the Beeb has allowed users complete freedom to use its content and embed it in their own sites. For instance, I've just gone and copied the code of this Top Gear clip from the 大象传媒 worldwide site on MySpace and pasted it right here:


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What this means is that for the first time 大象传媒 content will be able to spread virally (and legally) around the internet. Of course, plenty of people have been posting all sorts of clips without permission all over Youtube and other sites - but now this can happen with Auntie's blessing. The aim is obviously to reach young social networkers who spend very little time sitting in front of the television but countless hours online - and then get them to spread the word about our fabulous content. Let's see if it works.

Mind you, the deal with MySpace does not include any news content, which means I can't embed here my report on how difficult it can be to leave the site. But my bosses promise me that feature will be coming soon to our very own 大象传媒 news site.

Comments

  • 1.
  • At 03:11 PM on 24 Jan 2008,
  • John Franglen wrote:

I note that the embedded video doesn't appear to work, for me at least.

Also, you appear to be underestimating the capabilities of YouTube - its videos can be embedded on any given page, and unless the 大象传媒 ones have that specifically turned off, they can proceed around the internet that way.

I too have recently been trying to clean up my online life, deleting accounts from social networks, etc, etc and found it rather easy to delete my Myspace account, on the other hand Facebook (that oh so popular social network) refuses to delete my account and will only "deactivate" it, which I really don't want.

They say the only way to get my information off Facebook is to go through every comment, profile information, photo's, etc, etc and that their is "no way" they can delete my information from Facebook's servers.

I'm keeping a list of the correspondence between myself and Facebook here:

This is a great start!

I like the content being available on Bebo, I get notified whenever anything is posted and I enjoy being able to add little clips to my profile.

All I would say is that all they are at the moment is adverts for programmes.

I would much rather like to embed news reports into my blog and profile and things. The content on Bebo is regularly changing, and just shows very short pieces aiming to sell the programme, meanwhile the 大象传媒's YouTube content is much much better (John Sweeney losing it)聽but can't be embedded anywhere.

I personally think that the 大象传媒 should be harnessing these technologies more than it is, I would like news reports, and more content that isn't just previews and adverts.

Similarly, in my opinion, since iTunes will soon support Movie Rentals here, that could prove an excellent platform for something iPlayer style, whereby content can only be viewed for a set length of time, but in that time can exist on a range of devices.

  • 4.
  • At 05:27 PM on 24 Jan 2008,
  • MorbertMacErp wrote:

It's all well and good having the technology to access video/image and published content from more and more sources making it convenient, but it's getting to the stage where nearly everything I have a TV for and pay a TV license for can be found for free on the internet (assuming you live outwith the UK or don't have a television to buy a license for.)

What's to say that more and more people growing up with this kind of access won't just do away with standard television sets and therefore licenses in favour of downloading content from the Internet? Isn't the 大象传媒 only fuelling the likelihood that less and less people are going to have to pay for a license thus pushing the price up for those that choose to continue consuming content through licensed TV and almost inevitably reducing the amount of quality content through lack of funding?

Hi Rory

Unless you have read a different story to me, I think the problem is with facebook not myspace

Ian

  • 6.
  • At 06:08 PM on 24 Jan 2008,
  • adam wrote:

Is this just another way for the 大象传媒 to claim that everybody (i.e. computer owners who do not have a TV set) should be funding them? I do not own a TV - I can get the kind of entertainment that I want to see from youtube without having to fund Eastenders or any of the beeb's pathetic attempts to con us into believing that they have 'serious' political discussions. I think that youtube should have banned the 大象传媒 from promoting themselves on the site.

  • 7.
  • At 07:50 PM on 24 Jan 2008,
  • Behn K wrote:

OK, am I the only person who is slightly worried that a 'computer science' student can't do something as simple as clear up his myspace profile without the help of the 大象传媒!

As a 'computer science' graduate (to be more honest, a gradute of 'BSc Multimedia Production and Technology', amongst other things!) I found it quite easy to disable many parts of my Myspace account, strangly following the advice given by the company during the news report.
I do suppose deleting could be a different matter, but you do have to worry about how careless (or indeed how ignorant) the students are of how public their lives are!

I guess I can now expect people to start looking me up. (Damn, writing my degree here and having to supply my name at the top was a BAD idea!)

  • 8.
  • At 09:17 PM on 24 Jan 2008,
  • Jon Brady wrote:

I think it's great the way that the 大象传媒 is expanding its horizons through the internet and the like - first with their YouTube channel, now on Myspace, and in the near future with Top Gear's appearance in the next Gran Turismo. Makes the programmes a lot more accessible to more people, and all we need now is the previously-stated portable versions of iPlayer programmes so we can watch everything on the move.

The 大象传媒 sure is getting this Web 2.0 thing spot-on.

  • 9.
  • At 12:15 AM on 25 Jan 2008,
  • Behn K wrote:

OK, am I the only person who is slightly worried that a 'computer science' student can't do something as simple as clear up his myspace profile without the help of the 大象传媒!

As a 'computer science' graduate (to be more honest, a gradute of 'BSc Multimedia Production and Technology', amongst other things!) I found it quite easy to disable many parts of my Myspace account, strangly following the advice given by the company during the news report.
I do suppose deleting could be a different matter, but you do have to worry about how careless (or indeed how ignorant) the students are of how public their lives are!

I guess I can now expect people to start looking me up. (Damn, writing my degree here and having to supply my name at the top was a BAD idea!)

  • 10.
  • At 01:37 AM on 25 Jan 2008,
  • Jon A wrote:

I look forward to video content on the 大象传媒 News website not being in either of the proprietary Microsoft or Real formats actually. Being a Linux user makes this difficult. At least I can watch YouTube.

  • 11.
  • At 08:04 AM on 25 Jan 2008,
  • Lee wrote:

What's the legal position on these companies holding your personal data against your wishes indefinitely. I thought it came under the Data Protection Act. I'm having the same issue with eBay, who suspended my account. 6 months later (the legal limit as far as I am aware) I asked them to either delete my account of release it from suspension. they have refused and stated that it will remain in suspension indefinitely. So they have my home address and banking details and they flatly refuse to delete them from their database.
When I can be bothered to, I'm thinking of writing to my local Trading Standards to complain.

  • 12.
  • At 08:37 AM on 25 Jan 2008,
  • wrote:

Well i have to agree it is a very good idea, and i always enjoy watching the 大象传媒 clips online, but what i feel would be a better option would be to open up all the content on the 大象传媒 iPlayer to people outside the UK as well, because currently i moved from living in the north east of England to Krakow in Poland, and of course i still like to keep up to date with everything that is going on and programmes but i can't wait anything on this iPlayer as it says i live outside the UK and they don;t have the rights to show it outside the UK :( to i miss alot of things, so maybe its something that can be made available in the future.

  • 13.
  • At 09:39 AM on 25 Jan 2008,
  • Paul Kerton wrote:

Jon A, please don't get terminology mixed up. Whilst Flash is available on Linux, and therefore Flash video. It is still proprietary technology!

  • 14.
  • At 02:09 PM on 25 Jan 2008,
  • wrote:

The embedded video does not work with , so users are forced to use proprietary software in order to watch 大象传媒 programmes.

The 大象传媒 should help Gnash developers to get all the sites they are partnering with to work with the plugin.

As more and more low cost laptops are released using the GNU/Linux operating system, support for all of the 大象传媒's Flash output in Gnash will be an important and useful effort and supportive of the many education and social benefits a low-cost laptop computer brings.

Only then we will truly see freedom.

  • 15.
  • At 11:18 PM on 25 Jan 2008,
  • Colin Sellens wrote:

I think this article is a wake up call for a lot of people. When you join a social networking site, you have to ask yourself would you be happy with publishing the same personal information in your local paper? If the answer is no, then don't upload it. Also just because you've deleted your social networking account, you have also got to take into account caching by search engines if your profile was not private!

  • 16.
  • At 11:11 AM on 26 Jan 2008,
  • Rod Aries wrote:

The best method is to modify your online account details (for any particular service) , finally change the email address that it is registered with. Once these are saved, request that the account be deleted.

At that point it doesnt matter that the account is suspended indefinitely or not.

  • 17.
  • At 11:18 AM on 26 Jan 2008,
  • Lee wrote:

What's the legal position on these companies holding your personal data against your wishes indefinitely. I thought it came under the Data Protection Act. I'm having the same issue with eBay, who suspended my account. 6 months later (the legal limit as far as I am aware) I asked them to either delete my account of release it from suspension. they have refused and stated that it will remain in suspension indefinitely. So they have my home address and banking details and they flatly refuse to delete them from their database.
When I can be bothered to, I'm thinking of writing to my local Trading Standards to complain.

  • 18.
  • At 10:09 AM on 28 Jan 2008,
  • wrote:

This relationship between MySpace and 大象传媒 doesn't appear to be an either/or situation - both parties are exploiting the other, so they are friend and foe alike really.

Sure, we can be critical of MySpace for not deleting user information as completely and quickly as they should...but then again, the story about the student also highlights the user's naivety with online activities (in other words: if they were seriously worried about information online being discoverd by potential future employers - why did they not consider that in the first place?!)

Maybe MySpace, Facebook and other Social Networking sites should start notifying users (pre-registration) that anything they put on the Internet is in the public domain and should be considered carefully. Such warnings would undermine the illusion of a private, secure-walled network though, and Social Networks wouldn't want to lose their users confidence overnight!

Social Networks have thrived online because they rely on people's willingness to try something new, for free, almost regardless of risks...and then to make the experience sufficiently addictive that users can't easily abandon the site even if they want to.

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