MySpace has partnered with computer giant Hewlett-Packard to introduce a number of new print options to the popular social networking site. Beginning in November, users will be able to click an HP-branded “Print” box embedded on their MySpace pages to access a printer-friendly version of any portion of their profile that can be printed from their home printer. The announcement was made today by MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe and HP EVP of Imaging and Printing Vyomesh Joshi at HP’s Imaging and Printing Conference in San Diego.
It seems a little excessive – I can’t imagine wanting to print out anyone’s MySpace profile, and running promotions to print across the entire site isn’t very green either. I wonder if MySpace’s official Green site Our Planet will include the Print widget, too.
That said, I’m sure many users will be happy to have an easy way to print their photos from MySpace (which reportedly now has over 4 billion images). I can’t say I’ve ever had much desire to print a photo directly off a social network – I’ll usually just copy and paste the ones I like into iPhoto. But many users have been (and will continue to) print photos off the site, and will welcome the new feature. MySpace and HP say they also hope to eventually give users the ability to print to merchandise like mugs and other items, which may give them added incentive to use the service.
But really, who even prints photos (or Email) anymore?
