As someone who investigates new technologies and marketing channels for a living, I get to dive into everything from podcasting to MySpace to Twitter marketing to vlogs to whatever. I got online in 1977 (yes, you read that correctly), managed online communities in 1991, started my blog in 1995 (before there was a word "blog"), and my first podcast in 2005. Because of this, I've been fortunate enough to have lived at the cutting edge of culture, media and commerce for nearly 30 years now.

I joined MySpace nearly three years ago and have often felt it was a bit "hacky": not the best user interface, easily compromised by hackers, and users often tricked out their pages so completely over the top that it would sometimes crash my browser or bring it to a crawl. Then, when Facebook opened itself up to non-students, I found its interface to be more straightforward, less prone to crazy browser bling, and with more utility.

Today's supposedly-official message that my account was "phished" seems a bit ludicrous to me. I don't give out my password, don't open strange attachments, don't read messages from "strangers." Yet it was "phished"? Is that true or are they just trying to motivate people to frequently update their passwords? Regardless of the reason, I'm coming to the conclusion that MySpace provides VERY little value and given how little free time I have to tend to my social media "garden," it may be best to just torpedo my account here and move on.

There are some amazing singers and musicians here on MySpace that I tangentially follow through their pages...people like Sara Johnston, Imogen Heap, the Freemasons and the vocally blessed Kirsty Hawkshaw. It's nice to connect with them albeit remotely through MySpace, to hear their latest tunes and random thoughts about life. But really, MySpace isn't my hangout nor does it really feel like my "tribe." Compared to my 75 friends on MySpace, I have 400 connections on LinkedIn, more than 750 friends on Facebook, over 1200 followers on Twitter, and the Meetup group I started now boasts nearly 1600 people!

God, just writing this has helped me make the decision. Time to go. So goodbye MySpace. Time to move on and simplify my life.

If you'd like to stay connected, please friend me on Facebook: http://facebook.ericweaver.com.

Adios, muchachos!