Q: How many ways can MySpace be creepy?
A: At the time of the writing of this post, exactly 570 ways – the number of deaths featured on MyDeathSpace

The explosive growth of MySpace and the subsequent media coverage has attracted a number of new business models, criminals and legitimate commercial enterprises trying to take advantage of the new forum… And then there is MyDeathSpace, a site dedicated to highlighting profiles of MySpace members who have died or committed serious capital offenses.

(*Note: MyDeathSpace is an independent site which is not affiliated with MySpace)

This site is no NY Times obituary of pleasant deaths of well lived people. The site details the deaths of young men and women murdered, swept into a natural disaster, killed in a car crash and/or those who have committed a capital crime. To be honest, I don’t want to get into the details because the site makes me depressed, so visit at your own risk.

What we find fascinating about the site is that traffic is declining, but intensity per remaining visitor is steadily climbing. This trend is likely being driven by what my grandfather called the “rubber neck syndrome” – the fascination people have with car accidents and the subsequent behavior of stretching their necks in every direction to take in all the details of destruction as they drive by. MyDeathSpace is no different - as MyDeathSpace adds more obituaries, visitors are digging deeper and deeper into the site and looking at more pages. Yes, people are actually spending time rooting through these realities…

As for me, I can’t take it – there is enough bad news in the world a million times over. I will be one of the MDS’ former visitors.

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