In the spirit of Youth Month, 5FM yesterday launched Youngblood 5, an interactive portal allegedly similar to the FaceBook and MySpace online concepts.

More via 5FM.co.za:

Whether listeners prefer to start a blog, podcast their issue or simply just entering the website's forum via e-mail, it's up to each one to decide how they want their thoughts to be headlined.

Going back to last year, I had the following praise for 5FM's online initiatives, during the controversial Ster-Kinekor episode:

Along with their Opinion Polls and 5 Stars features, Podcasts, 5fm Dating, 5fm Chat, they're continously experimenting with new features to build an online community around their brand. They've moved on from the days of pushing wallpaper/ringtone/screen saver downloads, to building real, interactive, engaging applications that attract new users on a daily basis, and keep them coming back.

Today, I feel they've lost the plot.

What constitutes an online social network is debatable. To me Youngblood 5 is more a message board than anything, and the most basic kind. I love the concept and believe it has potential, and the design does have some redeeming qualities, but the overall execution is just horrible.

The interface switches between Flash and HTML, and only after you enter the HTML section ("View all the causes" button) do you realise that you can register and login. Once you've registered, all you can do is start a cause or comment on other member's causes. You can't view other member's profiles or interact with them on a one-to-one basis, so essentially, all you're doing is either shouting into a void or adding further noise to someone else's shouting.

This is hardly an environment promoting action.

The rest of the Flash section, when it works, is quite arbitrary. The poster/wallpaper downloads are all broken links, and your membership profile doesn't carry across from the HTML section so whenever you want to share an item with a friend, you're forced to supply your personal details all over again. Furthermore, there's no membership integration between this site and the 5fm.co.za portal. You have to register separately on both - so their claims about starting a blog and podcast are misleading because you can't do either of those on Youngblood 5.

5FM should already have damage control on their agenda. A quick search on Facebook reveals the following protest groups: I HATE 5FM!, Bring the rock back to 5fm! and Who cares Elana Afrika! You're ruining 5FM!. And not forgetting to mention that when 5FM comes up in conversation, there's always someone with something negative to say.

If that's not bad enough, I clicked through to their website and found the following posted as a news item on their home page:

Download any MP3 from MySpace
Date Posted: 08/06/2007 05:52:00

MySpaceMP3

Hmmm, 5FM promoting the illegal downloading of copyrighted material and in so doing abusing the artists they claim to support. Now this is news.