So Far: MySpace News MIA

As TechCrunch points out, MySpace News is not seeing much action – meaning there are few votes on stories. Before it had launched I had spoken to a reporter who’d seen it and was impressed. My reaction to the idea of MySpace News was that it potentially would kill Digg (which may yet kill itself).

On “paper” that makes sense. Given MySpace’s huge installed user base one would think that this site would be an instant hit. But it apparently isn’t.

Certainly that doesn’t mean MySpace can’t redesign, tweak or promote News (it’s not on the home page) and achieve better usage or participation in the future. What it points out to me, however, is that very often the conventional wisdom (including my own) is wrong or off base.

There’s a degree of unpredictability with the Internet that doesn’t equally exist with traditional media – or hasn’t existed historically.