The dinosaur of social networks, or so it seems, is struggling against extinction. Though Myspace - the place for friends - initially took social cyberspace by storm, it has nearly been swept away in the flood of alternatives that have succeeded it. It seems unfair, but after Myspace did the heavy lifting to norm culture to the idea of online socializing, Facebook came right in and reaped the benefits.
How did this happen? Facebook was able to perform some of the most appealing functions of Myspace, just better. As the user-ship turned more and more towards Facebook, public opinion turned more and more away from Myspace.
At their cores, Myspace and Facebook do not have that much separating them. Unfortunately, Myspace acquired a more negative image as certain types of people seemed to flock more heavily to it. From a personal perspective, Myspace became more of a place to put a giant personal ad, than to interact with friends. Structurally, a site that is unpleasant to use will not be used. Myspace became just that - unpleasant. One of it's best features, the ability to personalize a page, became one of its most off-putting, as profiles became more and more out of control. Allowing such range of choice took the marketing control and company image out of the hands of Myspace executives and placed it into the hands of the untrained, editor-happy user.
How can Myspace be saved? It has been suggested that Myspace should turn to a more focused niche market to survive, or even focus on integration with other popular sites. I do not disagree that these are good suggestions, but I believe it needs more than that. It needs a new image. It needs to separate itself from what it used to be and place itself once again on the tongues of all. It needs to regain its integrity as a "cool" social hangout (cyber though it may be) and set some lines that maintain its visual quality.
I believe the best bet for a stronger, cleaner, more reliable image is for Myspace to amplify what it does best, and at the same time present stronger competition to its competitors. It could beat out both Tumblr and Facebook if it simultaneously allowed an individual's web of people to see more than just the sterile cyber environment of Facebook and the unconnected comparative loneliness a blog offers. Myspace has the potential to be the place where my network can encounter my personality.
Myspace started out as a site of the future, but has become more cyber history than anything else. So, the question remains, will Myspace become no space?
Check out this article on Myspace's Next Moves:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10466701-93.html
I agree with your sense of urgency for Myspace and your belief that they need to reinvent themselves. It seems that Myspace is in the process of repositioning itself as hub for all forms of social media, including games and music. How do you think this move will help Myspace fare in the future?
ReplyDeleteI loved your comment about the editor-happy users. I got pretty good at playing with html code and making my page look the way i wanted it, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what may have been a good finished product to me was completely horrendous to other people. But being an editor-happy user is what made myspace great. Too bad that Myspace eventually became sluggish and filled with ads and spam, making it an unpleasant experience and losing it's edge.
ReplyDeleteSo true. Even though MySpace and Facebook seem the same, most people prefer Facebook. MySpace was great for new comers and entertainers to cast what they have to offer, unfortunately this is not enough. Facebook is kind of the happy medium between MySpace and Tweeter, with this said MySpace needs to make a sound effort into finding out what makes these other sites so great. Maybe with some effort they can figure out what they are missing and bring the fire back into their page. At this point only time will tell just how much they will do in order to save this page.
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