Myspace begins selling user information

Just shy of a decade ago, Myspace pioneered the social media scene to its rise in popularity. Many teens were early adopters, with music groups and adults soon to follow. However, Myspace has been on a downward spiral since Facebook and Twitter upped the ante in the social networking scene a few years ago. Myspace still shines for musical artists because of its highly customizable user profiles, but falls short of its competitors in almost every other category.

PC World reported yesterday that Myspace has begun selling its user data to third parties ranging from academics and analysts to marketers. So what does that mean for Myspace users? Well, once a user uploads photos, phone numbers, addresses, blog posts, and status updates to a Myspace profile, it becomes property of Myspace. Meaning they are entitled to do with it what they please (within reason). If they want to sell users personal information, it is within their right to do so.

While Myspace has surely lost financial gains due to the rise if major competing social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, this is definitely not the most efficient way to compensate for those losses.