Myspace goes to China

Oh snap! Australian media Mogul Rupert Murdoch who own the American social networking site Myspace is expanding the site to the People's Republic of China. According to the New York Times, "The News Corporation signed a deal to license the brand for its popular online social networking site and allow local Chinese entrepreneurs who understand their market to pick and choose to build an indigenous business. Using this approach, the News Corporation hopes to succeed where other Western Internet ventures have failed."

The decision to allow independent natives of China to run the venture is smart, as it will allow the site to be better adapted to that part of the world. It will be interesting to see the differences between the Chinese version of the site and the current U.S. version. While China has limited civil liberties and privacy rights compared to the U.S., many Americans have gotten into trouble with their employers or schools for content on their pages. Some admissions officers even check the site and will reject students who have particularly objectionable content on their pages.

Will Chinese youth already be conditioned to know not to put inappropriate content on the site, or will they find themselves in the same mess so many Americans have found themselves in?