In the reading '404 Page Not Found' by Kate Wagner, she goes through her experience as someone growing up alongside the internet, what that meant for her then, and what that means for her now. The part I felt the most connected to is titled "Facebook vs. Tweens (and Russian Grandmothers)" Which goes on about the dynamics that was MySpace from its early days down to its surprising death in 2013, Wagner references the nostalgic melancholy and constant reminiscing that comes from such web user autonomy and freedom because of the lack of guide or style.
Wagner says she "Didn’t know it at the time, but the cluttered facade of Myspace pages would be the dying gasp of a natively vernacular web aesthetic, one defined by a lack of restriction on what the page could or should look like. Such a degree of customization is extremely rare today". Her observation truly makes me question why so many user customization options are not available in any widely used modern applications such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. Surely this is what could attract customers both seeking that nostalgia that a time like MySpace brought them and allowing that younger new user to experience what they have not gotten the chance to experience for themselves. All these reasons as to why popular applications and websites should do so and follow this customization, we still; have not gotten a well–known modern version of it and that says a lot about the goals and intentions of websites and social media for the public. That uniformity and appeal to a less user–interactive web page ushers in this control determined by these company forces, which Myspace rejected.
This control is not entirely fable as Wagner explains a social and economic class divide amongst users during this time, where some felt as though newer applications like Facebook held a more prestigious and respectable image than that of Myspcae and its overly flashy urban appearance. Wagner explains that "Myspace, began to view Facebook as a cleaner, less seedy alternative for their children. As with many consumer products, Facebook's aspirational bent aligned with users' desires to achieve, or retain, professional class status. In choosing Facebook, these users not only relinquished the creative flexibility of Myspace, but they also, we now know, forfeited their privacy. This split between 'ghetto' and 'honors student,' amateur and professional, kitsch and high–design–manifested in the Myspace/Facebook divide".
Ultimately Wagner explains how troubling the addiction Myspace holds for people then and even till this day. One of the internet's biggest blow to security and trust in user information and content. Years of work, different connections, and content all gone in a flash. Whether through its quick demise or because of its attractive interface for some reason Myspace's aestheticism holds strong and influential to this day, with many short–lived duplicates of the original. We see this imagery in our stickers tab, the gifs of an Instagram story, and the work of micro–celebrities and those who take inspiration from the early 2000s. What to say other applications that offer reliable security such as these megacorporations won't face the same erasure as MySpace.
"Nostalgia, I'm reminded, is profitable–it remains one of the easiest to execute and cheapest grifts of neoliberal culture. What is particularly fascinating is how the once-minimal, professional–class Facebook is now falling prey to the clutter and kitsch that careened Myspace into the black hole of uncoolness". Says Wagner. After reading her findings I can gather the idea that shes conveying is that of self-demise and how the internet's future for innovation has been subjected to a loop of recreating nostalgia instead of creating future moments to be nostalgic about.