Double standard? MySpace and PhotoBucket
MySpace sent a clear message this week when it blocked photo slide shows and videos from Photobucket: only MySpace advertises on MySpace.
So why can my coworkers post a movie trailer hosted by YouTube on to their MySpace pages?
Neha Tiwari, an associate producer at CNET, spent less than two minutes swapping out a Bollywood video with YouTube’s movie trailer. No problems. No ban.
YouTube videos appear all over the Web thanks to the code the company provides that allows users to embed clips into blogs, Web sites and yes, MySpace pages.
On YouTube’s front door Friday was a trailer for the upcoming action film Red Line. The trailer isn’t a snippet uploaded to the site by a user but an advertisement that YouTube displays for a fee. YouTube makes an embed code available, presumably to allow users to distribute the trailer wherever they wish.
It’s conceivable that such action could prompt MySpace to accuse YouTube of “encouraging users” to post the clip to their MySpace pages. After all, by offering users a way to include a movie ad with their slideshows, Photobucket was accused by MySpace of doing precisely that.
Did MySpace overlook YouTube’s trailer?
Could MySpace block YouTube–again? (Not likely)
Is there a double standard?
Does it matter?
A point mentioned many times since MySpace’s block of Photobucket is that MySpace is owned by News Corp and Rupert Murdoch and they can do whatever they want with their site.
The only people they have to listen to is the users–many of whom have accused MySpace of censoring complaints about the Photobucket ban from the site’s message boards.
Photobucket hasn’t taken banishment sitting down. Sources close to both companies said that the photo-sharing site has made some tweaks to its code that enables photos and videos to bypass MySpace’s block.
Photobucket’s material began reappearing on MySpace early Friday.
No word yet on when MySpace will block that.
One thing is for certain: if you want to check out the movie Red Line you can find info on it at MySpace–by way of YouTube.