And MySpace Came a Tumbling Down

I feel bad for MySpace. They came to us with a plan to socialize the internet. It was an easy way for everyone, from the student to the CEO to get together and share their interests, their thoughts and the ups and downs of their day. With a single click, strangers from across the world could become friends. It’s like that old Coca-Cola commercial where people of every race, creed and color stand hand-in-hand while they learn to sing in perfect harmony.

So what happened? How did MySpace go from harmony to off-key? Is it simply a case of not being the popular kid on the block anymore? Even after the recent upgrades, are they still that far off the mark?

Check out this Chart-of-the-Day from Silicon Alley Insider. It’s a cold, hard look at the end of an era.

I hear that MySpace started out as an online data storage site, thus the name. Perhaps this is a business model they should reconsider.

What do you think? Is this scenario unique to MySpace or will all social networking sites end up biting the bullet just as badly one day?

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Will There Be 50% More Vacant Cubicle Space at Myspace Due to Layoffs?

It never feels good to write about this kind of thing around the new year but if there is one thing about writing about business one learns that it can be heartless at times.

Myspace, the perpetually troubled former social networking high flyer, is reportedly looking into the possibility of laying off up to to 50% of its existing staff of 1,000 employees. Liz Gannes from the NetworkEffect at All Things Digital reports:

While the decision of what cuts to make to its employee base have not been made yet, nearly the entire Myspace staff was given the last week of December off from work to save money.

Sources stressed that management was still working out the details of more drastic cost-cutting measures that owner News Corp. has been wanting from Myspace, as its revenues and traffic growth have declined.

The layoffs are also part of a larger rethink about the future of the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based company, which has had many difficulties in recent years. That has included several upheavals in its leadership and a talent drain, as well as stagnant growth.

Myspace has continued to get smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror of the frontrunner in the social space, Facebook, and that trend doesn’t seem to be letting up. Couple this continued decline in Myspace overall with the rise of microblogging (Twitter), location based services (Foursquare) and daily deal monster (Groupon) that are grabbing headlines every day and Myspace looks more and more like social networking footnote.

I have never really given Myspace a fair shake personally. When it was hot I simply didn’t care about social media. Now that social media is all the rage and there is value coming out of it, what Myspace is offering around music is just not where I fit. As a result, I haven’t truly watched the social network deteriorate like many readers may have.

Along those lines, it would be interesting if anyone who uses Myspace in its present form would tell us in the comments as well as those who once were Myspace users but have moved on to other things.

Once again, while these layoffs are rumored by sources this is a very bad signal for anyone related to the company. Not the way to be starting a new year for sure.

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Google Includes Display in Renewed MySpace Contract

MySpace and Google Inc. will continue doing business together under a long-term deal that includes the Google Display Network for the first time ever.

Nada Stirratt, MySpace Chief Revenue Officer, has been widely quoted as saying,

“We look forward to participating in the Google Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange to increase yield across our display ad inventory.”

I’m sure it’s true. MySpace has been running down a rocky road of late and parent company, News Corp, is getting tired of waiting for the profits to roll in. A little over a month ago, News Corp president Chase Carey said that MySpace needed to start showing improvement over the next few quarters, not years. Certainly, keeping Google on board, and joining the display ad network will help, but it’s not the key to saving the floundering social site.

Google has been the house search engine since 2006, but the original deal had Google paying out hefty guarantees in return for little on MySpace’s part. Though the details haven’t been confirmed, the rumor is that this new deal will have no such guarantee. If MySpace wants the search paycheck, they’re going to have to work hard for it like everyone else.

Trouble is, in order to get people to search, MySpace has to get people on site and that’s not happening. Their recent attempts at turning the site into social media community for entertainment lovers haven’t done much to increase traffic or the site’s reputation.

Can anyone save MySpace? Google may be a search superhero but I doubt even they have the power to breath new life into this old space.

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News Corp to MySpace: Shape Up or Ship Out

“We’ve been clear that MySpace is a problem.”

“The current losses are not acceptable or sustainable.”

They must show improvement in “in quarters, not in years.”

News Corp. president Chase Carey spoke to investors earlier this week and everyone is talking about it. He made it clear that the 70 million drop in ad and search revenue wasn’t going to be tolerated and that without a major improvement MySpace’s days were numbered.

It’s interesting timing. Not two weeks ago, MySpace announced a major overhaul that included a redesign and a focus on entertainment and a younger demographic. The website’s one saving grace over the years has been its popularity with musicians. Back in 2005, shortly after the NewsCorp buyout, MySpace launched its own record label.

“We have marketing power reach at our fingertips,” MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe said Thursday. He said the relationship with News Corp. could get bands it signs into movies developed by 20th Century Fox and on television shows on the Fox network.”

Their first band was called Hollywood Undead. Maybe that should have been a sign.

So here we are in 2010 and here’s Carey tapping his foot as he waits impatiently for the hordes to return to the once beautiful and powerful Oz. Will it happen? I think it could. But first MySpace has to stop trying to be Facebook. They can’t compete, but they can come back with an entirely different product that gets people excited about social media again.

If MySpace can build an interactive playground focusing on trends in movies, music and TV, they could have something. Facebook doesn’t cut it in this area and neither does iTunes’ new Ping network. Give me a spot that makes it easy to send my friends my favorite clip from a TV show and download the song that played over it and I’d come back to MySpace.

The question is, will they be able to build something new before the NewsCorp clock runs out.

What do you think? Does MySpace have a chance of regaining an audience or will it be on the auction block within a year?

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MySpace’s Full Rethink

If there is anyone out there who is truly interested, MySpace ( I want to put their new logo in here but I don’t know how to type it so it makes sense to a reader, which is a BRILLIANT marketing move by the way ) is getting ready to rollout a whole new look, feel, mission, mantra. You name it they’re doing it.

According to Bloomberg News

News Corp.’s MySpace is introducing a new website design with a focus on younger users in a drive to stem subscriber losses and distinguish itself from Facebook, the biggest social network.

Starting today, most U.S. users will be able to access the site’s most-popular music and videos, updated in real time. They can choose between homepage views and earn rewards for postings, according to Beverly Hills, California-based MySpace. The new version will be available worldwide by the end of November.

The strategy hinges on drawing 13-to-35-year-olds seeking an entertainment- centric social network separate from parents and other adults on Facebook, MySpace President Mike Jones said in an interview.

“This is a full rethink,” Jones said. “This is an entirely different product.”

I honestly don’t know what to say here. You have to respect the effort to get MySpace back into the view of social media practitioners and end users alike but does anyone have the time or the strength to add more social to their network?

Here are a couple of the more noteworthy changes:

-Three different ways or settings to view the site in ranging from ‘traditional’ to a montage / collage of messages, media etc that is updated constantly. Sounds like the ADHD sets answer to a stock ticker which must be the News Corp. influence in the project.

-Loyalty programs and labels / badges for those who demand to quench their insecurity through social media titles.

Probably more telling are the basic financials which start with the $580 million purchase of Facebook back in 2005 for about $580 million. From the Bloomberg article we see just how well this investment has worked out.

If the site doesn’t turn around, New York-based News Corp. will likely sell the business within two years, RBC Capital markets analyst David Bank said. MySpace is worth about $300 million, Alan Gould, an analyst with New York-based Evercore Partners Inc., said in an e-mail.

Whatever the end game, this whole effort and process seems to be putting good money after bad. With Facebook continuing to gain momentum and the landscape changing at a rapid pace it appears as if the likelihood of MySpace squeezing itself into the social media mix again (at least here in the US) is pretty slim.

Since I fall outside their target demo I guess I don’t even need to pay attention or care. Oh, I probably would do that anyway.

What about you?

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In Hopes of Becoming Like Facebook, MySpace Apps Also Leak Data

Ask MySpace what he wants to be when he grows up and he’ll tell you flat out – “Facebook.” It’s a typical case of big brother worship and we shouldn’t laugh about it but it’s funny, you know. When the little one tries to dress and sound like his successful big brother. Clomping around in shoes that are too big, hoping his friends will come over and hang with you if you make it easy for them to connect.

But sometimes, idol worship can get you in over your head. Like this week, when The Wall Street Journal caught MySpace leaking user data through apps. Who does that sound like, huh? Who got caught by The Wall Street Journal just a few weeks ago doing the same thing? Facebook.

The data on the MySpace app allows the app owner to get the user id of the players which can lead to them discovering things like the user’s actual MySpace name and photos. You know, the stuff you can see anyway if you visit anyone’s page on MySpace.

I think it’s kind of cute. Little MySpace racing his Big Wheel down the sidewalk after big brother Facebook get’s a ticket for doing 110 in a school zone. Not quite the same impact, but points for effort.

And kudos to The Wall Street Journal (whose parent company owns MySpace) for trying to give their little cousin some street cred. Nice try.

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MySpace Looking for a New Ad Buddy

MySpace needs to find another company willing to pay them for the opportunity to advertise to their decreasing number of users. They need to do this at a time when their executive suite has installed a revolving door to more easily handle the traffic in and out of the offices. It also comes at a time when the best company MySpace can find itself in is in the major Internet property rehab wing with Yahoo! and Aol.

So this is not the best situation to be in especially when you had cut a deal in 2006 with Google that should have brought $900 million to MySpace during the period where Google had the advertising exclusive with them. The Wall Street Journal reports

News Corp. is in discussions with Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. about replacing MySpace’s crucial search-advertising partnership with Google, which expires next month, according to people familiar with the matter.

In recent weeks, News Corp. has been discussing new, narrower advertising deals with Google and other companies, said the people familiar with the matter.

People close to News Corp. said any new agreement will be for significantly less money. That would be a further financial challenge for MySpace, which has seen ad revenue slip.

Google and Yahoo declined to comment.

Now the rest of the article in the Wall Street Journal sounds like it comes from a company that owns MySpace and needs to find another advertising sucker partner. The article paints a picture of a valiant company that is doing everything to ‘capitalize’ on the apparent opening Facebook has left because of its security gaffes. It says the usual music, comedy and fashion mix will make the 35 and under crowd desire the new and improved MySpace.

Well, if you want to read the advertorial you certainly can but it is very hard to imagine MySpace once again being at the top of the social media pile. What’s your take? Is this something that will fly? Neil Young once sang that it was better to burn out than to fade away. Don’t ya wish that MySpace would take his advice?

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