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MySpace to PhotoBucket: Buh-bye

Fox Interactive Media dropped the bomb on PhotoBucket and has banned PhotoBucket videos on MySpace.

• TechCrunch speculates that the timing may not be coincidental - that Fox may be trying to run a spoiler on a forthcoming PhotoBucket sale.
• HipMojo suggests that FIM is trying to prevent the rise of the next YouTube and protect their own nascent MySpace Video product.
• Scobelizer tells it like it is: if you use a free service, don’t expect to be able to do everything you want. If you want to have complete control, roll your own - its not that hard.

Ok, fine. But let’s ask the question: would Google have grown into the “Internet OS” if it punted competitor’s sites from its search index? (note that Google is the 6th result for “search engine” on Google, behind Ask.com and Dogpile) Google has grown and earned the trust of the Internet in part by creating a largely agnostic, de-politicized search engine in which you can trust that the results you see haven’t been skewed (aside from labelled sponsored ads…). MySpace’s omnipresence is vulnerable to the loss of credibility that comes from manipulating what is perceived to be a trusted, free platform. MySpace is the huge user-created content platform, and should start acting the part instead of imposing bizarre, parochial, protectionist measures like this one.

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