E-Media Tidbits

news.myspace.com As of this writing, an astrology article has top billing on MySpace News. But Yeltsin's demise did make the home page, at least.

As ZDNet's Steve O'Hear notes, Myspace News is a hybrid approach that blends the aggregation of Google News with the voting capabilities of Digg.

A year ago I couldn't imagine MySpace getting into the news arena, but the site has made an effort to expand beyond the teen/tween demographic that marked its early days. If presidential candidates are congregating on MySpace, then I guess a news feature is appropriate, too.

One caveat: A quick scan through today's headlines shows that some of the material has a racy tone, which could certainly turn off conservative-minded news outlets. For instance, right now an astrology article, Pisces Woman's Boyfriend Is Elusive: 7th House Sun. In sixth place at the moment is Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin dies.

It'll be interesting to see whether MySpace News tweaks its settings to remove the NC17 stuff or if it adopts an anything-goes attitude.

RELATED RESOURCES

Get E-Media Tidbits as an RSS feed: * Copy this link and add it to your feed reader Subscribe to receive E-Media Tidbits by e-mail: * Sent Monday-Friday, 5 p.m. ET

Over at Outside the Beltway, blogger James Joyner noted, "Ultimately, this [approach] makes more sense than having readers submit stories, which creates both incentives for gaming and arcane rules to thwart gaming."

In another post, Joyner wrote, "What does this mean to you? Well, maybe nothing. It all depends on how much reach you want to have into that community. If you're an independent recording artist, chances are it's important. If you're a blogger that writes in tech or pop culture, chances are it's important. If you're a presidential candidate looking for an exclusive audience in a group that has not necessarily been gripped by traditional campaign efforts, chances are it's important."

More on MySpace News from Search Engine Journal.