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Myspace Is Digging Up Your Embarrassing Old Photos

In an effort to gain back users, Myspace has been emailing people old photos with links to their accounts. Is this blackmail or just nostalgic?
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Oh, braces, how I don't miss you. And this could actually be the first ever selfie in the world — thanks, little brother. 

Yes, I dug up old Myspace photos, but for a lot of users, Myspace is doing it for you — so if you've got some particularity embarrassing pics, be on the lookout. 

"It wants you back. The social networking site that faded into the background in the Twitter- and Facebook-dominated world is courting its users now with old photos." (Via WOIO)

The social networking site is emailing out old photos to users who are no longer active. The message includes a link to the recipient's profile. (Via TXCN)

The email simply reads: "Your photos redelivered. The good, the rad, and the what were you thinking." (Via The Washington Post / Myspace

We're guessing there's probably a lot of "what were you thinking," as many outlets are calling the tactic a form of blackmail. (Via Angle Chronicle

But a writer for Tech Times points out Myspace is using a pretty unique marketing strategy "as MySpace isn't threatening to make the photos public or share them with anyone else."

And Mashable calls the approach clever — "After all, few things get your attention like the reminder that a tech company still has your decade-old photos on file." But whether it's working is the real question. ​

Myspace claims to have 15 billion photos in its database — that makes for a lot of potential emails. But in comparison, Facebook boasts a database of 250 billion pictures. (Via Mashable

If you're feeling nostalgic — we'll note Myspace has done quite the overhaul from the good ol' days.  

After it was purchased by Specific Media in 2011, Myspace was geared toward musicians. (Via MyspaceAd Age)

According to The Washington Post, it's "kind of streaming radio service/music news site/social network for music fans. … The new Myspace prioritized musician pages and encouraged them to upload songs and videos, which fans could then repost to their own profiles. ... But it's unclear whether any of those changes actually paid off.​"

Last October, Myspace announced it had 36 million users. During its heyday, those numbers peaked well over 100 million.