A social media outlet that was dreadfully irrelevant in today’s social media industry, has been given a facelift in an attempt to re-define itself and regain a large user base. Although they were one of the leaders “back in the day” when social media was the new thing, as soon as Facebook hit the scene Mypace began to lose more and more users to Facebook, so much to the point that these days literally everyone and their mother is on Facebook. Just to give you a little idea as to how far behind Myspace had become, here is a snippet from an overview of social media usage in 2012 put out by Pew Research. Notice Myspace isn’t even listed.
As of August 2012:
1.) 12% of online adults say they use Pinterest
2.) 12% of online adults say they use Instagram
3.) 5% of online adults say they use Tumblr
4.) 16% of online adults say they use Twitter
5.) 66% of online adults say they use Facebook
6.) 20% of online adults say they use LinkedIn
So in an attempt to make a desperately needed comeback, Myspace has completely redesigned its self and this week I got my invite to the new and improved Myspace. Although it is very much “new and improved” it retains its core competency: social media with an emphasis on popular media, specifically music. Some of the most notable features are the interactive catalog, which allows you to stream the latest and most popular music and videos for free, and features artist profiles that you can connect to in the same way that you would “like” something on Facebook. They also feature the ability to create and share “mixes” which are collections of songs that you can combine with photos and videos to make your music more personalized. And finally your “Deck” is always at the bottom of the page and is your access point for all your favorite music and allows you to access and share your mixes and playlists with friends. Of course it wouldn’t be Myspace without a place to list your “top friends” ensuring that your friends are always in competition for that top spot.
What I have yet to see is a way to create a business profile on Myspace, there is nothing similar to the Facebook business page, and it will be interesting to see if this is something that they will incorporate into the site in the near future.
Only time will tell if Myspace will be able to make the strong comeback they are hoping for, or if they are already too far behind in today’s social media market.
By James Maston