The Pentagon has opened up a new line of demarcation in an Information War, and U.S. troops and their families may be caught in the digital crossfire.
The Defense Department has announced it will begin blocking access on its computers and networks “worldwide” to YouTube, MySpace and 11 other popular Web sites, according to a memo sent Friday by Gen. B.B. Bell, the U.S. Forces Korea commander.
hi5, which launched in late 2003, is a massive MySpace-style social network. The site targets the teens and twenties demographic and claims to have over 40 million members. According to the latest Hitwise stats (June ‘06), hi5 is the 8th most visited US social network. However, the site is losing market share - it now accounts for 0.78% of the social networking market, down from 1.06% in May. And although not explicitly stated, Hi5 appears to be more targeted than MySpace - many of the site’s users are fans of HipHop and R&B.
Social network website such as Bebo, MySpace, Friendster, MyYearBook, Classmates.com, LiveJournal, Xanga, Facebook, Hi5, Joga Bonito, MSN Spaces, Orkut, Yahoo! 360� and growing list of the social networking sites, has increasingly popular and becoming influential part of contemporary pop culture. MySpace, according to Hitwise, has even become the most visited website if counted by page-views in the United States, edging Yahoo! Mail and Google.
