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As a retro spiritual successor to defunct website MySpace, social networking platform SpaceHey (https://spacehey.com/home) derives many of its features from it. The main feature and focus of this investigation is layouts - user profile pages - and their editing via CSS/HTML. By default, these include 3 sections for users to write in about themselves: About me, Who I’d like to meet, and the interests table with several categories. Like contemporary platforms, it is possible to view user-created content, but this is treated as a means of socialising rather than consuming. Top Blogs aren’t sorted by kudos - SpaceHey’s version of likes - or comments, but instead by views which are inaccessible to users. There are no supplied tutorials on layout editing, but many of these blogs revolve around sharing code. The side bar in editing pages merely lists “allowed html tags” and sites that support “embedded content”, As users are unable to upload their own media (i.e images, videos or music) to the site for anything other than profile icons. There are also guidelines and links to “SpaceHey rules”, mainly outlining how users are free to customize however they want, so long as they don’t share inappropriate content or hide features and links (e.g. blocking or reporting) via code. SpaceHey’s governance focuses on negative liberty as a way to facilitate freedom of expression. Violation of rules or terms of service can result in account suspension, where all account data and posts are deleted permanently, and cannot be retrieved. 

With a focus on”privacy and customizability”, it counters competing platforms as entities restricting these ideals for profit motives. The privacy policy and all official statements are attributed to creator An or the creative start-up Tibush Labs - also referred to interchangeably as gbhp- are treated as everyday tools for the user, highly visible in the website’s headers and footers. Treating transparency and privacy as a unique selling point, it acknowledges the standard business practices of data harvesting and relying on advertisers for revenue, and challenges them. 

The user interface takes a very minimalist approach to design, leaving the use of language and UI as the main mediator. The About us page draws on a negative image of other platforms to highlight it has “no algorithms, no tracking, and no personalized Ads”. This vision aligns with growing awareness and negative image of modern practices of data harvesting to give itself a positive image. Additionally, official statements are attributed to creator An, as the profile’s blog posts, to draw on the sense of trust and authenticity latent in the nature of independent projects. Many headings like cool new people (new users) take a friendly tone to reflect the social purposes of the site and encourage users to reach out.

There are a bare minimum amount of graphics on the site, the few present taking a retro and simplistic aesthetic. The dated aesthetic serves to reinforces the independent nature, and the sense of nostalgia as an homage to MySpace and its standards of Web 1.0.

To better understand the relationship between the affordances behind self-expression, and the values of privacy, analysing SpaceHey as a part of the “culture industry” frames it in the role of the “leisure industry”. Lack of profit motive remains an integral part of the site’s identity, but impact on the overall culture industry is still acknowledged. In Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer’s The Culture Industry, Enlightenment as Mass Destruction, the media theory of “The Culture Industry” is first outlined. It conceptualizes“hobbies” - what we spend our leisure time on - understood as “organised for the sake of profit”(p.198). As segregated parts of our free time, they reinforce divergence between what we choose to do, and our work. Furthermore, they diminish and fetishize individuals as consumers, and products of their hobbies, as it’s seen that “the fetish character of the commodity lays claim to actual people; they themselves become fetishes.” (p. 191). Applying this logic to SpaceHey sees the friends, freedom of expression, and connections gained, and even the identity portrayed through one’s profile become diminished and fetishized versions of the concepts. By seeking connection through a hobby of coding or blogging, the fetishistic content - the self-serving nature in one’s self expression - can be seen to overshadow genuine feelings or relationships. Following this, the ideals of privacy also become reduced to a preference or part of personality. The user also becomes a watered down version, through the filter of what is on their page, and the most prominent content in it. Understanding the site as part of the culture industry allows insight to how the app’s vision and ideals of privacy and creativity, has them effect each other in a consumerist society that exists to reinforce consumerist behaviour.

However, this model undermines the conscious efforts SpaceHey, and its users, make to combat larger industries that directly recreate consumers with inherent financial motivations (i.e. contemporary social medias, e.g. TikTok, Instagram, X). Whilst it is true it can only exist in relation to its contemporaries, and will have consequences of all nature, Adorno and Horkheimer’s model inherently cannot view it as anything more than ultimately more consumerist - and in turn harmful as this goes against the app’s vision, and target audience’s values  - than not. 

To investigate SpaceHey as a tool for self-expression and connection in relation to privacy and creativity as negative liberty, the walkthrough method was used, observing how layouts are typically constructed and used.

Sign up

Creating an account is intuitive: Requiring a username, password, and to complete a captcha. It is possible to create multiple accounts, and takes a minute to make just one, so users regularly create alternative accounts specifically for testing layout code. Before completion, the privacy policy and terms of use are made available, and are in a readable format with subheadings, hyperlinks, and lack of technical jargon. Users must first verify their email before uploading a profile icon, but aside from that they are now free to use the site unrestricted.

Everyday use

Over the course of a week, the account made for the walkthrough experimented with layouts, blogs, and interacted with friends made via the browse tab which will show all currently online users. Typically, it is possible to upload code to the layouts tab, but this feature is currently unavailable. Similar to the unpolished and bland design, the dysfunctional nature of some features act to reinforce the site’s independent nature, enhancing the aesthetic experience at the expense of practicality, and driving user innovation. In this case, users have begun to use blogs to share code.

The walkthrough used the site “imgbb” for image hosting as it was popular, and one downside of this is that user experience of SpaceHey is directly influenced by third party sites with no affiliation; Such that when this site is down, other users cannot see the account’s images, creating a poorer user experience completely out of SpaceHey’s control. However, it also means SpaceHey voids any copyright laws, and requires less server running cost. This is typically beneficial when adding music to one’s page, as most users will embed youtube videos to auto-play music.

Exploring users’ pages revealed that the Who I’d like to meet sections tended to overlap heavily with users’ interests. This created a starting point for socializing reminiscent of Web 1.0’s tendency for niche interest focused socialising that characterised forum sites. In contrast, SpaceHey’s forums are not actively used by the current user base. It was observed that SpaceHey tends to have a relatively high user drop-off rate; With most active accounts being less than a month old, and ones older than that usually being inactive. This was seen by noting the last online status in accounts, and is discussed among users. While there is no statistical evidence, it is important to note the influence this has on the experience. Making genuine and long-term connection on the site feels significantly less realistic after a few days of using it, leading users to depending other social platforms. Users typically link their other social platforms to communicate with others as opposed to using the site’s instant messaging system, creating a negative feedback loop of user drop-off.

Suspension, closure and leaving

Logging off SpaceHey consists of using a link in the top-right of the screen. As most browsers will save username and password details, allowing auto-filling upon re-access, signing back in is easy. Closing the tab will have the user remain signed in though, so they rarely need to do this, outside of switching between alternative accounts. When a user deactivates their account, all data is completely disposed of by SpaceHey. This process is accessed via account settings, and requires completing a short captcha and “verification sentence”. 

SpaceHey has created its own conventions and expectations as a social network, such as many user layouts using nostalgic themes or aesthetics, and automatically playing music on page load. The walkthrough showed that users are pushed to rely on other platforms, signing up to and using the site is of low investment, and there is a high user drop-off rate. Through using the model of the culture industry to examine the role of SpaceHey as a leisure industry, its unintentional relationship to its competitors is highlighted. Using this notion of hobby fetishisation can provide a rationale behind a seemingly high user drop-off rate, that perpetuates reliance on other platforms, and results from the site’s nature of a creative outlet over shadowing being a social network. The diminished value of privacy, creativity and connection becomes perpetuated through this feedback loop. However, this media theory doesn’t  account fully for the app’s vision, and users’ intentions or reasons for using the site as acts of opposition against the mainstream. 

References

 Adorno, T.  & J. M. Bernstein (1991). The Culture Industry Selected essays on mass culture.  Routledge   https://irp.cdn-website.com/e401e78b/files/uploaded/adorno_culture_industry.pdf 

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