nothing new

I love that MySpace is once again getting some good press. A few weeks ago, MySpace was cited as an organizing tool used by young people who came out for the immigration protests (that was particularly cool because it rubbed away at people's antiquated belief that young people of color aren't online). Now MySpace is getting credit for preventing a school shooting in Kansas. What ends up being most extraordinary in the end is not necessarily the role that the social networking site has played in these extraordinary events, but the pervasiveness of the site in young people's lives in general.

Before MySpace -- men preyed on young girls in the past, young people organized protests, teenagers laid out plans for murderous sprees in their schools. In the end, it's really about new technology facilitating something that has gone on in the past, but maybe now can occur in a way that is sped up and less tied to geography -- the "community" is expanded.