Future Tense

Myspace Is Using Your Old, Embarrassing Photos to Lure You Back

You don’t want the lettuce beard incident of 2006 casually showing up in your inbox.

Photo from the depths of Lily Hay Newman’s digital past.

There are two good reasons to dig up embarrassing Myspace photos of someone: They’re getting married or you’re blackmailing them. Now Myspace, which is already known for bizarre marketing tactics, is using the latter as a strategy, trotting out the mall shots and grainy cat photos taken on your first webcam. And then sending them to you. And then asking you to come back to Myspace. It’s called “Your Photos, Redelivered.”  

You definitely want to be reminded of your rocky adolescence when you open an email from Myspace, right? If not then maybe the pitch from the email will help: “The good, the rad, and the what were you thinking …” Nope, not helping.

Myspace has changed a lot since you last logged on in 2007. It’s now a place for bands and musical artists to create pages, upload songs, and connect with fans. But the company still has the dirt on you from 10 years ago and it’s, apparently, not afraid to use it.