Remember MySpace? Remember how much fun you had mucking around with the layout and design for it? Remember writing on people’s walls and being friends with the mysterious Tom? Remember when Rupert Murdoch bought it and the entire world stopped using it overnight.
Fun times.
Well, Justin Timberlake – who was in a film about Facebook – bought loads of shares in the flagging service and now wants to tell us all how amazing it is now going to be. It isn’t, is it?
It’s pretty obvious that there’s still something you could do with MySpace. Nothing has come out since that has been as good for new bands. Maybe it would be good for propping a window open somewhere on the internet? Either way, Timberlake has plans!
Essentially, he’s going to revitalise MySpace by turning it into an interactive TV service.
In a statement, he says:
“We’re ready to take television and entertainment to the next step by upgrading it to the social networking experience. Why text or email your friends to talk about your favorite programs after they’ve aired when you could be sharing the experience with real-time interactivity from anywhere across the globe?”
“As the plot of your favorite drama unfolds, the joke of your favorite Snl (Saturday Night Live) character plays, or even the last second shot of your favorite team swishes the net, we’re giving you the opportunity to connect your friends to your moments as they’re actually occurring.
“This is the evolution of one of our greatest inventions, the television. And, we no longer have to crowd around the same one to experience it together.”
Like everyone already does on Twitter?! And what about licensing laws? They ALWAYS throw a spanner in the works when trying to make TV global. Besides, most of us have catch-up services, so… err… what’s the point of all this exactly?
Seriously. If MySpace became a Spotify for unsigned bands, it could take off… but a portal for watching television? Christ.
Kevin says
MySpace is still in the top 10 Social networking sites, beating out Google+, according to Nielsen:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/nielsens-tops-of-2011-digital/
(Scroll down to the chart were MySpace is mentioned.)
MySpace is #16 on Seomoz:
http://www.seomoz.org/top500
And is in the Top 7 trending brands on Twitter:
http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2012/01/10/the-top-15-trending-brands-on-twitter-according-to-hootsuite-infographic/
According to Google’s own stats, MySpace is still in the top 100 sites worldwide, ahead of Tumblr & HuffPo. Surprisingly, Reddit is nowhere in sight:
http://www.google.com/adplanner/static/top1000/
Just looking at that list and counting Social networking sites, MySpace comes in at number 5.