MySpace is Dead - The Internet Is Growing Up
Posters on the wall, teen magazines, boom boxes playing the same stupid songs over and over again (automatically!) - that's not a sustainable situation, by definition. That's teenage living and that's what MySpace built its huge site on. Just like being a teenager, MySpace is something that most people grow out of. Today marked an important point in the internet's move beyond MySpace.
The company ushered Tom out the door today from President into an advisory role is in talks with Tom about a new role if he leaves his post as President, and replaced its CEO with former Facebook business exec Owen Van Natta. Increased revenue isn't really what MySpace needs, if it's to stay strong it needs to stop bleeding users. That's not likely.
Those are all relatively daring, smart ideas. But, none of them will work. That's ok, MySpace was an important part of the social web's early history. Its time has passed, though.
MySpace is an embarrassment for most people on the web. Many people feel like it's a bratty kid sister wearing too little clothing. Danah boyd famously wrote in 2007 that the MySpace/Facebook split was largely about economic class. That may not be so true anymore. (See boyd's response in an update below.) Give most people another option and they are going to choose it. Social networking used to be just for teenagers, but those kids are growing up and everyone else is joining in the activity. Not on MySpace, though.
As Eldon points out in his coverage, recent Facebook redesigns have brought new focus on sharing content to that site. Twitter has captured the public's imagination as well and it is all about active sharing of personal news between contacts.
MySpace's core nature is to express yourself into a void and hope people come to visit your page and check it out. The relatively recent additions of status updates and news feeds feel tacked on and superficial. MySpace clearly hoped that many of its users would write long-form blog posts but the time investment required to use that feature is much more arduous than the quick and easy publishing on Facebook and Twitter.
On some important level, MySpace is a lot like GeoCities. GeoCities closed its doors yesterday.
Facebook and Twitter may or may not stick around longer than MySpace has. MySpace will probably always be able to serve a sizable constituency in between children and adults. But, the momentum has left MySpace and churn in this market will probably keep Facebook from holding on to it for more than a few years as well.
None of this is news, MySpace went cold quite awhile ago. Tom hasn't updated his status message in a week and a half. He knows what's going on. Putting a business guy from Facebook in charge just makes it official.
Update: MySpace Communications emailed after this post was written to let us know that Tom updated his status message today after all, and that going a week and a half is nothing unusual for him. Point taken.
Update: Microsoft's danah boyd sent us this response. "As for now, the 20-something MySpace crowd is using Twitter but the teen crowd is not. (Many of the 20-somethings even point to their MySpace profile as their URL in Twitter.) There is still a strong divide amongst the teens regarding MySpace and Facebook. MySpace is not dead among many teens (and it still comes up in my fieldwork... last set of interviews with teens being a month ago). Given what I've seen from this crowd and their attitudes towards those who use Facebook, I don't expect there to be a switch to Facebook any time soon. That said, there is always the possibility of something new that does not have so much baggage. I've been waiting for the "next thing" for this crowd but I haven't seen it yet."
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Amen
While I do agree with some of the sentiments, come one now, MySpace isn't dead. Yeah, it's not the trendiest 2.0 freemium, no vowel site, but it's approaching nearly $1 billion in revenue. If that's dead, than Twitter is beyond dead. I guess I'm saying many tech sites like to get jazzed up about services and Web sites with no real business model and I don't know how smart that is. We've already been through two booms and busts, and the companies that survived are the ones who were able to effectively monetize.
Same thing will happen to Twitter and Facebook. Social media audiences are fickle. As soon as the crowd takes over the early adopters want something else, something edgy. What will be remarkable is when a social media platform dies and makes a comeback.
John, on the internet if you're not growing, then you're dead.
Bryan, I agree.
Hum... I don't use myspace too much, but it's not dead to me. I like to find band's info and I like the simple thtat is to remember personal URL (not like fb ¬¬) moreover... I don't have an overloaded profile, so it loads fast and everybody can see my stuff easily.
So, will Tom still be my friend on Myspace?
(Actually, when was the last time I looked at my page?)
I think people see the great power in connecting, starting and building relationships on line. Now, they are beginning to understand that without the offline relationship it's just pretty surface stuff.
And the noise is getting to people. I don't need people sending me little gifts in space.
Whoever, get's it down to a great UI with the ability to facilitate real life connections that are beneficial will win.
"If you're not growing, you're dead"? WTF? You said it yourself, MySpace may still yet serve some demographic. It does have some revenue as John points out, which is more than what can be said for a lot of other websites. Myspace Music is still the go-to place for bands and their fans, despite the arrival of several competitors throughout the months, even *years*. The "if you're not growing, you're dead" mantra is horribly shortsighted. I may not love Myspace myself, but as long as you can serve a core constituency of users and still earn some revenue, you're still alive and have a future.
Ed, I hear what you're saying and appreciate it. In many ways MySpace isn't dead, sure. But it's a gigantic business that used to be a defining force in the culture of the internet. In both of those senses, it's dead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6IQ_FOCE6I
That is basically what I think about it.
Show the VC the money, or these non profitable bussinesses with an INCREDIBLE networking effect will start to die like tribe.net (which I still think is the best social networking site even if their down time killed the network)
Also.. to pimp myself, http://www.hrabaconsulting.com/blog/2009/04/14/why-you-might-trust-yelp-again-social-media-ethics-and-the-future-of-yelp/
In that blog post I reference myspace's death... somewhat due to lack of accountability and transparency.
Something huge is coming along.. bigger and more tight and functional that facebook. That too will fall to the next big thing. It is the way of social media.
Myspace as we KNEW it is dead. Now it has two options.
1. Continue to chase after Facebook, hoping that OVN in a leadership role will help change the poor Brand perception Myspace suffers from, perhaps redesign a bit more.
2. Focus on its strengths (Music) and regain some prominence in a different way. Add (or buy) a streaming recommendation service.
Of course there are different approaches to either, but honestly, I don't see Myspace Local and their partnership with CitySearch helping at ALL. There are already too many good local search solutions out there.
The music game isn't won yet, that's for sure. Facebooks attempts have been futile thus far, as far as usability, adoption, and monetization.
Having said that, there's also that little thing that the company does...news.
Buy Digg. Integrate.
Keep pushing on music.
Win.
I won't draw conclusions so soon. Give it a chance and it'll come back, Murdoch is a tough guy.
I agree with @Joe.
Myspace should stop trying to compete with Facebook (and Facebook should stop trying to compete with Twitter).
Each of these sites should focus on their strengths instead of trying to be the jack of all trades.
Each have their own place... at least in my world:
I only use Myspace to listent to music and view bands.
I only use Facebook to talk to friends and family. (people I know)
I only use Twitter to make statements, ask questions, and search for information OUTSIDE of my direct friends and family. (people I don't know and probably never will)
I don't agree completely. Of course you want to have as much growth as you can, but I'd rather have a strong monetization strategy for a smaller number of users than a massive user base with no viable moneymaking scheme. I like to point to Second Life as a good example of this. They were once the darling of the Web heads (not Spider Man),and corporations jumped in like gangbusters. It stopped being the "it" site after a while, but its still generating a decent amount of revenue off its small number of users (it's supposedly profitable).
Myspace is such a disaster - and people still focusing on it "for the music" is comedy. The music game is still up in the air, I'm just waiting for Facebook to enable those little monetizing music players that're embeddable on Myspace. I am more than happy to rid the atrocious HTML, blingy graphics, and horrific backgrounds farewell forever. And LOL @ Myspace choosing an ex-Facebook exec as their new CEO!
Its soo sad how bloggers think. A company that is not talked, liked or "fashionable" any more is considered a failure or is talked about like its dead.
What are you guys talking about look at myspace growth yes its not as big as facebook, yes the site is not considered cool among programmers, bloggers etc BUT the site is super successful its probably one of the most profitable online companies and they earn more money then facebook btw, there music side is extremely innovative.
Any body here will wish to make half a company as good as myspace, stop being haters and appreciate apps that changed the web.
Of course now every body will trash Twitter because its not the cool kid any more not its main stream and on with the next startup, which I wonder what it will be?
Enjoy your weekend every body;)
As said, I think internet is growing up, and its users too.
Now internet is no more mainly for young people and teenagers. As seen on Facebook, older pepole are more and more using it. Marketing strategies must take this in account. Especially Myspace.
It really would be nice if just once at some point on the ground info was apart of how people analyze the web. Marketers, investors, pundits take note: your numbers are not the only data that matters. I find the total hubris of quants in co-opting journalist's accts. of what are in fact social phenomena purely through #s really frustrating. For goodness sake! Start talking to people!!! Myspace dead? Here's an idea, talk - not data track, but TALK to 3000 12-20 years olds and measure it against quant data
Posted by: Bahiyyih
|
April 24, 2009 3:22 PM
oh,what a pity,myspace is very helpful for us,it can help us find more people and share our informaion...I like to find band's info and I like the simple thtat is to remember personal URL (not like fb ¬¬) moreover,too.
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umakeitcool.com is replacing myspace. you can change your profile; but not stupid bling; oh eah, you can sell stuff; and if you buy things, you get money back, to give to a friend, tip the art, or keep it.
Michael
It's not sad,it's just the same people who follows the trends..the flok of sheeps who believe that facebook is the end of it all and the same one that in 2 years from now will ditch it for something else "better".
Myspace should focus on a core business. Music, maybe.
Do you think it could be as cool as Mtv was before they forgot about music?
I don't think it's a bad idea to settle on a smaller, managable, profitable crowd. You simply can't be everything for everybody. There's just no fun in that.
I'm not buying this "dead" crap.
RWW is just one of umpteen sites out there written by self-appointed "experts" in (or interested in) the tech biz.
I'm no fan of MySpace. I've always thought the design sucked and that allowing people to include 25 animated GIFs, flash videos and music players + blue text on a lime background on thier pages was a bad idea, but apparently millions of others don't feel this way and MySpace is still going strong.
In fact, there are groups on Facebook whose purpose is to nag Facebook to be more like MySpace (these people want all the crap..um..err.. "bling" on their pages that they can do on MySpace).
Facebook may be all the rage in the media these days, but most of the millions of MySpace users don't know this because they don't pay attention to it. In fact, they don't know sites like RWW or TechCrunch even exist (hell they don't know CNet exists).
But I digress...
MySpace still has millions and millions of users and while the numbers may be dropping I doubt they are plu
MySpace is far from dead... and race and class is a real issue in social networking and every time I read one these types of blogs written by priviledged, white male bloggers who no doubt do not use Myspace:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/about_marshall.php
I cringe. You're elitist, but you live in FB/Twitter bubble and so you don't know it. And as a daily user of Myspace... teens are last group I have seen using MySpace for years now and folks of color are everywhere... almost even dominant.And you do realize you can't trust age stats on MySpace, right? Being "18" means nothing. If you used MySpace... were a part of the community... you'd know why.
Tragically, in your snobbery because "MySpace is ugly" your creating a meme/myth that MySpace is dying... one of the best online communities ever... in soul and spirit, but newcomers to the Web... believe this crap.
Get some people who actually use MySpace to write about how it evolving.. my use died off for awhile when I foudn Twitter... but it's up again.... especially with the launch of their new tool bar... which no blogger wrote about, but the Digg toolbar... wow... that was news. I also finally made the switch from iTunes... to downloading music from MySpace. Much better experience.
And recent ComScore data completely contradicts everything you have said.
Snooze... white, male, priviledged bloggers... god... we need some new voices in the social networking space. Listening RWW, Mashable, TechCrunch?
The only thing I agree with you on is they definitely should not hire any ex-FB staff... Facebookers don't get MySpace... they just don't. It's over their heads.
Some data... i don't see them as dead simply because they're not growing. But it's a nice way to troll for pageviews...
Si myspace is dead, http://www.mondial-shopping.com ou http://www.mondial-tv.com sont bien vivant .
Myspace's run is over. There is way too much spam and it just doesn't compare to Facebook. With only so much time in a day, you are forced to choose between Myspace and Facebook and Myspace just cannot compete with Facebook. I haven't logged into my Myspace account in 4 or 5 months, guess I should and close my account.
MySpace not dead. it is just becoming a niche site. it gives emerging artists a free platform to build their social networking profile.
If you use it as a hub for all of your other social networks, then you get some great results. Most of these social networks try to do too much, anyway...
if you are trying to connect with fans, you gotta have as much real estate as possible.
-t.L
MySpace is brilliant if you're a musician. I think it's becoming the primary place for musicians to present their stuff.
Facebook is too scattered and confusing. Many people who would come to my Facebook page wouldn't even hear any music beause it requires two or three clicks to get to it...
MYSPACE is great. It's nuts and bolts and not too much information if you're a musician/band....
I even just started directing www.amycorreia.com to open
at www.myspace.com/amycorreia.
The next big "GROWN-UP" social network? Try Jango.com - much nicer than MySpace and Facebook put together. Plus you can listen to any music you want to AND they have a campaign for Indie artists. Luv it!!
Geocities... never got into it. Myspace however allows musicians to upload music into a public forum where it could substantially increase the popularity of the artist. I'm going to keep up my myspace profile and continue to upload my new tracks as I have a music site myself, and that is something that facebook has not yet delivered my friend. Keep it tweet buddy.
I'm a musician with lots of friends who are either musicians or live music fans, and nearly everybody is on MySpace. I only know two or three people who are on Facebook. And I can't wait for the Twitter fad to fade. I don't know anybody who uses Twitter and I'm tired of hearing about it.
MySpace is not dead to me. I have plenty of fans, particularly from outside of the US, who find me on myspace and purchase my CDs and downloads. And they can be some of the most loyal fans, too, buying my CDs over and over again as gifts for friends. I cannot say that about most of the people I have met on Facebook and Twitter.
Maybe it depends upon how you are marketing yourself and what genre of music that you play. Certainly, as a Celtic harpist who plays trad. Celtic, folk, old English, and New Age music, MySpace is alive and well and a very good source for collecting new fans.
I agree 100% as myspace is now finished...already 2 big social networking websites are there
1. Facebook
2. Twitter
following with orkut, hi5 and many more...!
Thanks
Kunal Shah
http://www.kunalshah.info
I am on the musician's side of this argument. I run a recording studio and I use the myspace to connect with bands and to show bands my work. Nothing else out there lets me search / find connections as easily. While I understand the more mature crowd moving over (I use Facebook to (re-)connect with old school friends and such) I think the people striving to make art / music / etc. will still concentrate on myspace. So: myspace is not dead to me, but I think for some of you it is; undiscovered / independent music is dead and has always been dead to you. It's something you don't take the time to discover for yourself.
If you want to argue the business perspective. It's a good time to make excuses if your business is not seeing any growth right now, don't you think?
Personally both MySpace & Facebook work well for me, I am a music promoter in south Florida showcasing local, national and international songwriters in a monthly event. I don't get caught up in some of the silly socializing, games, etc on FB & MyS, strickly use it as a business tool in promoting the shows and securing potential songwriters for future shows. I can also post pixs & videos of the shows which also help in promoting the event. They are both excellent for me in this sense, I have connected with people from the past who were/are involved in the music biz as well as meeting a tremendous amount of songwriters and musicians that I hadn't previously known or known of!
So at least for now, I'm pleased!
Chrystal Hartigan
Songwriters Showcase (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
I couldn't agree more, and particularly with the comment from the user "why should i wait 5 minutes for a million images to load?". Add to that the audio player that kicks off whether I want it or not... MySpace hasn't adapted with the times, and I find myself anxious every time I "have to" visit a user's page, it's a major waste of time and computing power. If ever a site needed to revamp it's approach, it's MySpace.
The world is suffering from ADD
There will always be a new myspace,twitter,facebook,etc...
Like Bell Bottomed Jeans and platform shoes, it will go and come back in a different color, shape, form and a different name but it will be the same 'ol...same 'ol!!!
Love, Peace & Hair grease
Big Dore
I hate the Facebook v myspace argument as they are completely different entities
Myspace is far from dead but Facebook has turned into a better social networking platform to stay in touch with people you already know
In Scotland facebook still comes 2nd to Bebo at present although that seems to be changing with people starting to switch to Facebook and more people spending time on Twitter as well
i agree with the earlier post, People who dont actually like discovering new music for themselves may feel myspace isnt for them but just because you dont like sports doesnt mean all the sports websites are dead
Their is people who are happy to be force fed X-Factor cover-versions through commercial radio and their is those who like to discover new music and keep up top date with their favorite artists
Myspace will always generate mass traffic because it is the definitive site for all musicians and fans and music is the number 1 hobbie/past-time on the planet
Thats not to mention those who have grown up with myspace as a social-networking tool. People dont like change. Theirs just as many myspace users who hate the facebook set-up as their is the other way round.
Its the equivalent of getting a brand new mobile phone, It can be frustratingly snail-paced getting used to something new.
Myspace has been a godsend for artists getting feedback and getting their music out there.
It also connects people with simular interests and opinions all over the world.
Facebook is brilliant for connecting with friends.
Twitter is cutting edge for news and opinions.
You cant compare the three as they offer three completely different user experiences
www.myspace.com/thegirobabies
www.twitter.com/thegirobabies
the problem is that the young crowd is always going to be looking for the next new thing. add a few new twists and tweaks onto what has gone before and they switch in droves once it has been established that the new thing might be more stable after all. myspace just hasn't been sent for its final autopsy yet. facebook better look around now too.
MySpace seems dead because it's not the kind of site journalists or bloggers use. Facebook is easy-to-use, with a clean layout, so it's used more by adults, professionals and trendy Web 2.0 types. But MySpace still has users, even if TechCrunch doesn't report on it. It's a similar situation with Twitter - it got big because journalists and bloggers could use it and then bang on about it. Same with Second Life, actually - how many more articles about SL do you see in print media compared to WoW?
Really, I'm starting to see Web 2.0 as a rather in-bred subculture, where being talked about is more important than actually making money. Articles on TechCrunch are not directly correlated with user numbers, which is not directly correlated with making money. It's like the bubble all over again, except at least this time it's limited to a relatively small number of companies that have fallen for their own marketing hype.
Well, yes, the internet is growing up. "Maturing" you might say, and as it does, I expect to see more variation in the "hot thing" of the minute. As the audience becomes broader and less susceptible to teen-age mood swings, I'm sure there will be market share for many different networks. Expecting everyone to migrate en masse is a sort of herd think that I hope the community will grow out of eventually and let each find their audience. So long as it continues to work well for whoever it still works for, it is, at some level, a success.
My Space is too musical for my taste, I'm really considering of closing my account there too. There's people that are very talented with their hands but My Space don't look at those people, and it just disappoints me.
Myspace is just for tees anyway so all those poeple who a re saying that myspace is dead is because they are to grown for it...shut the fuck up and get a facebook.
If you hate sparkly graphics, emo and hiphop being shoved in your face, vanity laden images and content that has nothing important to say, then Myspace is the bane of your existence. Yes , people grow out of that. But at the same time, the content offers nothing and it doesn't take long for even the biggest vanity whore to get burned out. Facebook is more appealing for family networks, businesses and non-profits. At its core, it is a better networking tool;easier to use and navigate and stripped down so that users don't get scared away. The dirty secret is that its also a far better data mining tool, and many businesses have started figuring that out.
Myspace is very-much alive for me. I guess I am bringing and exporting a different kind of energy. I love it. I love branding my clients and earning fun income.
Myspace = dead. sorry it just is. not completely dead in the sense that they're going bankrupt, but dead in the sense that nobody uses or cares about it anymore.. musicians maybe but youtube is much better and has alot more people, and there are other sites. author makes a good point here, myspace was for teens but now this crowd is growing up and myspace is just "the good old times". i remember making my facebook almost 2 years ago just to check it out, expecting to delete it soon.. and im still using it, and my myspace? i log on once in a while even though its really just pointless. take it from a 17 year old, myspace is straight-up dead.
Myspace is definitely dead. I have a profile, but only check it once every couple of weeks because there's just no activity on there anymore. Not because Facebook really offers anything better, but because Myspace caved into the record companies and just got so commercial that it got annoying. From the annoying pushing of every RAP/R&B piece of "white noise" trash out there, to the disabling of playlists that people put a lot of time into, to annoying ads every time your music plays...Myspace's greed trampled all over the toes of their users. Sure, they're still making money, however, there is always a delay between the decline in the value of things and the point when dumb ad execs figure out they're pissing their money away. It just feels like it's owned by corporate Hollywood and just like corporate Hollywood and the crap they push on us, it just feels tacky, silly and fake.
This article should have been simple...
"Myspace is 100% dead in the USA, period."
I used to use Myspace all the time. It was the shit. Met a load of interesting girls and made cyber friends I guest. Even spotted people out at clubs and exchanged phone numbers I was called by my online persona...You could post videos and write loads about yourself, expressing yourself.
My girlfriend made me close my account in 2007 due to the fact I had way to many hot girls added. When we split up a year later I remember how much fun it used to me so rejoined.
It's crap. It's dead. People have moved on to another party.
But Facebook is rubbish!!! Never will be as good as Myspace was.
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