MySpace Users Plan Protest

WASHINGTON (WUSA) - What began as a simple blog entry has translated into a movement to boycott the social network website MySpace.com.

"I wasn't expecting it to be this sensation that was going to take off across the internet," explained Simon Owens, a newspaper reporter in Newport News, Virginia. "I just signed onto my MySpace page one day and saw another junk e-mail. That was the breaking point."

Owens vented on his blog: "That's it, I've had it. After months of only visiting my MySpace profile in order to delete spam friend requests from half-nude women, I've reached the end of the line."

His outrage translated into a facebook page when one of his readers formed a group called "International Delete Your MySpace Account Day." Now, Owens is receiving media requests from radio stations and online journalists after more than 2,000 people joined the group. Those users claim they receive too much spam, pornography, website glitches, error messages and noisy music that blares from their speakers when they click onto a personal page.

"It's really hard to gauge how many people will actually cancel their accounts," Owens said, referring to the January 30th date set for the event. "I've seen a lot of blogs plus the Facebook group and then the people who have responded to my blog. Who knows how many people heard about it on the radio as well."

MySpace did not respond to 9NEWS NOW's request for an interview. However, an Australian journalist quoted the company's Vice President Rebekah Horne in an article. "This Delete-Your-MySpace day is just about being controversial," Horne told the reporter.

"All these criticisms are things we've been launching at MySpace for a while now," said Owens, who focuses on online media and journalism with his blog. "The overall point to this is to send them a message that users will not tolerate the junk. Maybe they'll make changes."

Michael Khoo, an account manager for Fenton Communications, signed up to delete his account because he never uses it.

"I think the bigger statement has already been made by the number of people who have gone from the friendsters and the MySpacers and who are all graduating to facebook," he said.

Khoo's work as a public relations consultant requires him to put together online marketing plans for his clients. He says many of them are turning to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to reach wider audiences.

"MySpace is notorious for having so much spam on it and being approached for sexual solicitations, whereas Facebook has more filters and is cleaner looking in appearance," he said. "What this rejection of MySpace is not actually rejecting online communities. It's a further embracing of it. It's just raising the bar of expectations."