Can yesterday’s news become news once again? The Rupert Murdoch-owned Myspace is hoping that a massive redesign of the social networking site will make it relevant once more.
Visitors to the site in the last few years will not have seen much difference but finally, the company has announced not just a major redesign, but a major reinvention as an entertainment hub instead a social media network. The move is a bold and necessary one for what was once the paramount social networking site on the web. Myspace has been superseded by Facebook and Twitter in the popularity stakes and the site has been on the downward spiral over the last four years.
This redesign will focus on music, movies, TV, celebrities and games content and will rely on curators – influential users of Myspace to bring new content to the attention of others. Aggregated pages on specific topics will include editorial content and posts from prominent news sites and blogs. Users will be able to share their finds with friends. The new redesign removes the cluttered and fully-customisable profiles of old with a standard page look. The old Myspace logo has also been replaced with a ‘whatever you want it to be’ “My_____” and the tagline ‘A place for friends’ has been dropped.
The new design will be rolled out to users over the course of November so it will be interesting to see what the reaction to it will be. Will Myspace be able to revert its fortunes?
There are small signs that it may just work. Bands still rely on Myspace profiles to promote their music. Despite not being as well-designed as other sites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud which are allowing musicians to spread their music to blogs and fans to purchase online, Myspace has still not been replaced as the de facto music site. It ranks well in Google and it’s still a handy place to find out tour dates, pictures and hear some music. The new standard format profile might just help make that easier.
Additionally, Myspace will have to steal users from Twitter and make it a place for people to talk about TV shows or events in real-time. There’s even mentions of Foursquare-style social badges being offered to users for creating content and playlists.
That’s all fine but Myspace will need to offer something completely unique if it’s going to succeed in its plan. The new site will have to be seriously impressive AND ORIGINAL to entice those people back who have long abandoned it for Twitter or Facebook. This is Myspace’s last chance to change our minds.
Features
Fri, Nov 5, 2010