In 2005, before NewsCorp bought MySpace, I registered the username “tickets” on myspace and promoted the URL to sell tickets to shows for the various bands on my record label. In early 2008, Myspace without any notice or any warning decided to hijack the username from me. I’ve attempted to contact them about the issue but have as of yet have only been brushed aside and undutifully ignored. Now go to myspace.com/tickets - yep, you guessed it.

Anyone interested in the details about this incident can read more here:

http://www.shareneedles.com/2008/02/myspace-stole-m.html

Usernames are valuable properties, but in the end those properties are really not “your space” and can at anytime, under most TOS agreements be torn away from the user for any reason that the company of which whom owns the platform sees fit to do so.

Although I have not completely given up on investigating my legal rights as per the TOS that I signed in 2005 with MySpace, I sure as hell don’t put too much time and energy into developing content on social network platforms due to the unpredictable future of these properties. Maybe companies will one day award their members for developing on their platforms and helping to promote their site. Until then expect more issues like this to make headlines.

Thanks for the post.