Believe me: you can't build the next MySpace. You may think you can, but you can't. And don't go thinking you can win by having more features: social software doesn't work like that. In the same way that you can't beat eBay by charging lower fees, MySpace won't be beaten by a feature-rich competitor. It's a marketplace, and marketplaces need critical mass. You might be able to beat MySpace (and eventually, someone will) by disrupting their core business, but right now it makes more sense to build services that can ride the social-networking wave - in other words, feeding the MySpace beast.
Last week Forbes looked at the cottage industry around customized MySpace layouts, but I'd prefer to focus on services that feed into MySpace via so-called "MySpace codes" and web widgets. So without further ado, let's take a look at the startups that are riding the MySpace wave:
