I responded on Matt’s blog when this story first broke - but for some reason it never got posted. I’ll try it again here.

There is no doubt that there is “trend following” aspect to the move.

However, there is an angle that many might not have considered.

It is a belief of mine that to be the very best at one’s profession, you must sometimes learn about its ugly and dark side.

Namely, that by the nature of social networking sites creating an “open” atmosphere to contribute (in MySpace’s case, profile, comment, blog, forum and group posting), it also creates a fertile nesting ground for malware and troublemakers to wreak havoc.

Who better to find immersed within the eye of the cyber-storm than an Iron Giant, to better understand, experience, and attempt to be the first to provide solutions for all the darlings of the social networking scene to utilize, and to aid them in maintaining order and civility?

I’ve written a piece on the impact malware, trackers and flooding scripts are having on MySpace, and how it might well someday find itself being the target for black hats and attack bots to perpetrate mayhem, fraud, and chaos.

I don’t want to sidetrack this discussion by posting a link here, however I’d be happy to forward the post if this is something that is of interest.