Rupert Murdoch Forgot to Read the Warning: Ink Toxic Label

Rupert.

Ru-pert. (said like Colbert)

R-Dizzle.

In your attempts to connect with the youth, why won't you just leave ink and paper behind?

Hot on the heels of the creation of local quick-fix paper OC Post, Rupert Murdoch's best new-acquisition MySpace is in talks with hip music magazine Nylon to put out MySpace: The Magazine. The new publication would cover standout members and their interests.

C'mon, Rupe! That's not progress!

Aside from the problematic content - e.g. it's either "standout" big-name users like Dashboard Confessional or no-name 13-year-olds who spend half their profile wishing they were Chris Carrabba - why on earth would anyone want to read ink and paper when they spent every waking hour on MySpace anyway?

Most music magazines are under pressure from up-the-the-minute music sites that are more colorfully written and more tuned in to their reader base. So how will a MySpace-biased bastardization of the very fabric that holds the social network together, social networking, work?

While I'm sure the professional staff at Nylon will give it a good effort, I just don't see the appeal of getting something in the mail when you've already got content in front of you. It's like trying to read a book about the internet's best sites when you're sitting in front of a computer. Why?

If I were Rupert Murdoch, I would overhaul my front page to be MySpace magazine (essential MySpace networking tools still present, of course) and sell it for premium ad space. Users of MySpace, as their own studies have shown, are incredible repeat-visitors. It's a virtual addicition. So as good as a business acquisition MySpace was, it seems an aging News Corp. can't figure out how to best capitalize on it under the new rules of new media.

Listen to the kids, Rupert.