MySpace has silently changed the way they deal with comments. Any link included in a user comment is now replaced with a new 'mysplink.' For example, I posted a link to
Widgify to my friend's MySpace page. I set the link target to:
http://www.widgify.com
When the link was published to his MySpace comment section, the link target was replaced with:
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LndpZGdpZnkuY29t
This means that MySpace can now not only track link-out activity, but can also block outbound links. This only seems to be the case with new comments. Old comments still point to their original link targets. MySpace has already turned off
links for Flash widgets, so there is definitely a pattern emerging. This activity is extremely interesting in light of the upcoming
changes coming soon from MySpace competitor, Facebook. Facebook seems to be moving in the opposite direction - opening up to developers. I wonder if MySpace take a hint from web history, or continue to move along their current trajectory. I guess time will tell if
Tom still wants to be everyone's friend.
p.s. Thanks to Matt K. from
Clearspring for the find. This was also covered in
Web Design 10.
technorati tags:
myspace,
comments,
links,
yahoo,
aol,
widget
