Those of you who were teenagers or tweeners in the early 2000s probably remember MySpace,
the big dog in town before Facebook came along to seal its thunder, even once accounted
for over 4% of all US website visits.
That's a lot, and it was a place for friends and a crazy vortex of sparkly unicorn gifs
and bad emo songs. And while MySpace had problems with spam and poor design that ultimately led to its downfall,
plenty of folks do still miss it. And now, my MySpace clone called SpaceHey that popped up in late 2020 already has a user
base well into the six figures. But why has it become popular all of a sudden?
Is it just a nostalgia rush for those of us who miss a simpler time, or is it really
offering something the big social networks don't? Well, aside from the combo of millennials wanting a blast from the past and zoomers curious
about the way things used to be, SpaceHey is actually notable for what it doesn't have.
According to a developer, a teenager from Germany, there are no algorithms that try
to feed you content that's addictive, spammy, or annoying.
So forget about a feature that's like TikToks for you. There isn't even a like function or a news feed pushing posts at you, so SpaceHey clearly
isn't built for chasing your dopamine fix. In fact, there are no algorithms at all.
And no ad tracking, meaning it's a lot like the older web where you had a relatively
blank slate, strobing banner ads notwithstanding, that you'd populate it with whatever you
wanted to say or to show to people, and that was kind of it.
SpaceHey profile pages themselves are almost an exact replica of MySpace.
You get a small profile photo, an about me section, a prominent area that displays people
you've friended and any comments they may have left for you, as well as a section to
list interests. Blogging, forums, and instant messaging are all supported, as well as custom HTML and
CSS, so you can make your profile page just as gaudy and terrible as it was when MySpace
ruled the world. That's a bad idea, by the way.
Custom HTML is like really exploitable.
But that's about the end of the feature list. SpaceHey feels like a foil for the major social media services like Twitter, Instagram, and
Facebook, which are extremely pervasive in our lives.
Not just because we use them so much, but because when we do use them, there are always
so many things jockeying for our attention. Between promoted ads, algorithmically optimized outrage, and people trying to dunk on each
other in the replies, many users report feeling overwhelmed and burnt out.
And the algorithms can't work without collecting lots of data on our lives and preferences,
so it isn't surprising that these services, notably Facebook, have been embroiled in huge
amounts of controversy over how this data is handled.
And even when it isn't the companies themselves misusing the data, there's a strong argument
to be made that the post as often as you can nature of these services promotes over-sharing
and this feeling of having your life being made a little too public.
Combine it with controversies over disinformation and low self-esteem promoted by these algorithms,
and it shouldn't be surprising that enough people just want some kind of alternative
they can at least use on the side. Of course, we're not going to say Space Hay is going to be the next big social media giant,
but it's not trying to be. It's likely to remain a niche service for the curious, the exhausted, and the minimalist.
But isn't that just what we might all need these days?
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to go listen to some MCR.
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