News.blog: Is MySpace making news?

MySpace is said to be preparing to launch an integrated news service -- with self-aggregating content and social bookmarking -- in the coming weeks. MySpace members will be able to post the stories on their profiles, as well as discuss, promote and submit their own written content to be seen and ranked by other MySpace users. The new service is reminiscent of Digg and del.icio.us, with social bookmarking for news stories that can be promoted with user voting.

It was only a matter of time before this happened, considering MySpace has been owned by news mogul Rupert Murdoch since 2005 and gets 230,000 new registered users a day -- arguably more than most Internet news sites. As TechCrunch notes, the move to buy news aggregator service Newroo last year was not without purpose. The same technology is likely to be in place for feeding stories to the site throughout the day.

Membership and usage are two things, but this move is a smart one on MySpace's part. Many MySpace users come online to trade messages with friends and browse profiles. Getting news stories on profiles means a lot of eyes to potentially read them. Not to mention, if there's a reason to come back several times a day to get news and share things with others, there's more of a draw to the site beyond profiles and band spam.

Now, the big question is what this thing is going to look like. If it's anything like the rest of MySpace, with slow page loads, flashing banner ads, and Web 1.0 design, you won't catch me using it.

Update: When asked about the new service, a representative for MySpace responded: "We do not comment on company rumours or speculation regarding our product pipeline."