In a bid to save ad dollars and create a safe haven for children, MySpace is doing what it can to create an advertising and child-friendly environment on the net.
According to Reuters, News Corp.'s MySpace.com will offer free parental notification software. Zephyr software helps parents find the name, age, and location of their children who represent themselves on MySpace. This is helpful, as children can mask their real name, age, and location and go online unsupervised.
Rick Louis, manager of communications and government affairs for Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection, said, "ASACP supports parental supervision of their children's Internet use."
To appease advertisers, MySpace is creating "safe" areas wherein advertisers will be able to post their ads. MySpace was purchased by News Corp in 2005 for $580 million dollars. In purchasing the social network, News Corp sought to put advertising on the website. What "safe" havens will look like is yet to be explained; however, it appears to step away from any controversial material that involves pornography, according to a Wall Street Journal article.
"Generally, we think it fits in with the various efforts that MySpace has been taking proactively," Louis continued. "What we noticed most clearly, is that because MySpace is far and away the biggest and most popular of the social-networking sites, they have taken on the role of leading in this kind of situation with precautions. They are also subject to the most pressure from outside forces like the government to do the same thing. So, between those, it is not surprising to see them being this proactive."
