I've been saying this for years. MySpace accidentally became the choice place for bands but they took so long to develop that.
The challenge is however, joining both worlds of user profile and band profiles. I would rather only have bands on MySpace because it can be a powerful marketing tool.
Lastly, I would probably change the name because MySpace is synonymous with failure since the rise of Facebook. #myspace
@Cheap Shot: I think the name thing is key. If they insist on retaining personal profiles, those that are for musicians would need their own clean & cultivated name, and it had better not be MyMusic. #myspace
There is no way Myspace can even hope to compete with anybody unless they completely overhaul their site so it (a) works and (b) doesn't look like junk.
Even if they do this, I think they're far, far too late to (their own) party. #myspace
They also have a market for crazies who inevitably end up killing someone or doing something outrageous and gossipy sites post things found on their myspace as proof. That's the real reason for myspace. #myspace
This is good but you are omitting the stuff-white-people-like element. NPR had that this morning: "'I have friends who are white,' says 19-year-old Diego Luna. 'They are my white people friends and they are mostly on Facebook. That’s why I use Facebook. My brown people are on MySpace.'" #myspace
@Peter Feld: This is very interesting. Do you think it's a race thing or a class thing? In my experience, Facebook is more of a white-collar, professional space, perhaps because of the founder's background and outlook? It did start out as a place for college kids.
MySpace has more of a blue collar, working-class ethos. Which is not to say something false like people from working-class backgrounds are content with shitty design. I wonder if it's more like design plays avery strong role in defining the socioeconomic class of a place. And people's backgrounds play a really strong role in defining which places they feel uncomfortable in.
It may be that a lot of working class people are put off by Facebook's design because while it is clean, it doesn't seem welcoming and inclusive. There is something exclusive about the severe and stark white and blue color scheme and the serif-less fonts. #myspace
@Wrapitup: Everything you said makes sense - not everyone dislikes the cluttered but flexible MySpace design. Certainly professionals do, but other people might find it appealing or fun to work with. (Certainly that was its original appeal.) But the main driver of using a social network is: where are your friends? If everyone you know is on MySpace (or FB or wherever), that will be a more important consideration than design. #myspace
Thanks for an interesting post, Ryan. While I disagree that dropping out of college is necessarily evidence of incompetence, I agree with the rest of your post. I agree with Uncle Billy about why Facebook kicked MySpace's ass. So why didn't the bigwigs at MySpace just design a whole new layout and cancel the option for users to design their own (ugly-ass) pages? For me, the question is why on earth MySpace is so wedded to their failing design concept. Do you have any thoughts on that?
It may be that the MySpace head honchos understand the music business better than they understand how to provide a coherent and attractive visual experience for their viewers. But then again, their stubbornness in sticking with a failing system and resistance to necessary change is cause for concern. #myspace
@Wrapitup: It could be a case where they realize they've simply missed the boat. At this point if they drop the user-controlled layout scheme, they will drive away those eggheads who prefer such ugly design while at the same time trying to woo back people who were already driven away by the clutter. The customizable pages are awful, mind-numbing burdens on the senses, but I'd be willing to suspect that the reason that most of the teenagers who still use MySpace over Facebook do so because of this option.
The company is definitely grasping at straws, but I think they're playing to their one strength, which Betty Draper mentions below: it's just easier to look for music on MySpace than Facebook. It's all they've got, and frankly, as someone who has no investment or faith in the company to begin with, the fact that that makes me nervous says tons about where MySpace is at these days. #myspace
@ampersandparade: Regardless, the fact that any of us could have told Van Natta a few years ago what he is just realizing now, is not a good sign. #myspace
Disagreed. I have always felt the only users Myspace had left were the indie musicians. It is much easier to search for and listen to music on Myspace than Facebook. #myspace
MySpace pages are a gestalt of its users' brains. Messy. Messy teenage rooms. Google and Facebook rule the waves because they are clean and minimalist. Tidy for the win! #myspace
@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: Yeah -- Myspace was for early adopters the equivalent of dorm rooms, complete with the embarrassing posters. We've graduated, but Myspace hasn't. Not even the bands/musicians I'm friends with really keep up their Myspace pages. #myspace
watch the rest all fall: Jeff Berman is first. When Miller referenced inspirational leader he was directing that at him. If he tells the McDonald's special sauce song contest story one more time he should be banned from every industry conference. Dani Dudeck should pack up her oversized office and look forward to never working in this industry again, she is the most hated person in PR. I could go right down the list but I don't want to scoop anyone...
The SF office is pretty small. The job of the execs would still be in the main office in LA where the majority of the company (~80%) is at.
But there are actually a number of execs at MySpace who live in SF or Seattle and commute to LA every week. So to answer your question, no it's not uncommon.
What the hell is going on this post? Does anyone know? Is DeWolfe out, or in? Is Miller pushing him out, or is Murdoch, or is Wendy Deng? Is there any thread of coherent sense to be had anywhere?
I am surprised that Gawker has not covered the Julia Angwin book Stealing MySpace to it's full extent. The review in NYT Book Review has provided more tantalizing details than Valleywag. I was amused by this nugget of trivia. "For instance: MS did not intend to let users strew hearts, glitter and smiley faces all over its home pages. It's just that when the Web site switched from one programming language to another, shoddy engineering created a huge loophole allowing users to upload their own computer code." Oh, Happy accidents!
This is too easy. It's gonna be placed under the guardianship of Faux Noise, with maybe Coultergeist as Friend in Need. To advertisers they can present millions of sheep who will buy anything, the dream demographic.
10/22/09
The challenge is however, joining both worlds of user profile and band profiles. I would rather only have bands on MySpace because it can be a powerful marketing tool.
Lastly, I would probably change the name because MySpace is synonymous with failure since the rise of Facebook. #myspace
10/22/09
10/22/09
Even if they do this, I think they're far, far too late to (their own) party. #myspace
10/22/09
10/22/09
10/22/09
MySpace has more of a blue collar, working-class ethos. Which is not to say something false like people from working-class backgrounds are content with shitty design. I wonder if it's more like design plays avery strong role in defining the socioeconomic class of a place. And people's backgrounds play a really strong role in defining which places they feel uncomfortable in.
It may be that a lot of working class people are put off by Facebook's design because while it is clean, it doesn't seem welcoming and inclusive. There is something exclusive about the severe and stark white and blue color scheme and the serif-less fonts. #myspace
10/22/09
10/21/09
It may be that the MySpace head honchos understand the music business better than they understand how to provide a coherent and attractive visual experience for their viewers. But then again, their stubbornness in sticking with a failing system and resistance to necessary change is cause for concern. #myspace
10/21/09
The company is definitely grasping at straws, but I think they're playing to their one strength, which Betty Draper mentions below: it's just easier to look for music on MySpace than Facebook. It's all they've got, and frankly, as someone who has no investment or faith in the company to begin with, the fact that that makes me nervous says tons about where MySpace is at these days. #myspace
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The SF office is pretty small. The job of the execs would still be in the main office in LA where the majority of the company (~80%) is at.
But there are actually a number of execs at MySpace who live in SF or Seattle and commute to LA every week. So to answer your question, no it's not uncommon.
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