Over the past year, we’ve presented the case of "why" and "how" to use MySpace.com as part of your overall marketing plan. Well, we now have some news that you should be clearly aware of before creating a MySpace for your next show. At any point in time, MySpace can delete your account without warning. We’ve had this happen twice over the past two months to two different accounts. One account was named after one of the characters of the show while the other was set-up to represent an entire production.
We spoke to our advertising contact at MySpace.com and he could do nothing to fix the situation. In short, if we had paid for an ad campaign on MySpace for the accounts that had been deleted, this wouldn’t have been an issue. Just an FYI, campaigns don’t come cheap on MySpace and aren’t exactly a fit for the typical theatregoer.
The days of using MySpace as a commercial vehicle at no cost may rapidly be coming to an end.
If you have a MySpace now that you set-up for no cost, please beware that you could wake-up one morning and see it gone with the following email in your inbox from MySpace. It’s important to stress that if they want to remove your MySpace account, you receive no warning – simply an email saying it’s been deleted and that it can’t be reinstated.
Hello,
MySpace has deleted your profile because we received a credible complaint of your violation of the MySpace Terms of Services.
Prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to:
-Any automated use of the system, such as using scripts and/or bots to add friends, send messages, etc.
-For band and filmmaker profiles, MySpace prohibits sexually suggestive imagery or any other unfair, misleading or deceptive content intended to draw traffic to the profile.
-MySpace also investigates credible complaints of copyright/trademark infringement and will delete any materials that infringe upon the intellectual property rights of third parties.
For a more thorough list of prohibited content/activity, please refer to the MySpace Terms of Service located at the bottom of MySpace.com.
If we delete your account, it cannot be reinstated.
Thank you,
MySpace.com