Monday, June 14, 2010

Is Myspace Dead?



Myspace the once dominant social network on the face of the earth has clearly taken a backseat to Facebook for both users and businesses. At this point in time Facebook has an Alexa traffic ranking of two with Myspace ranked as a 20 meaning it is still the 20th most popular website in the world. When asking the question whether Myspace is dead we must look at whether it is dead for both users and businesses.

Why Myspace is dead for users

Myspace is dead for users because most everyone has completely gravitated towards Facebook. Right now the big thing that Myspace is known for is its music and unless you are a band or a music junkie you may not have a use for Myspace. Getting a bunch of random friend requests from bands that you have never heard of is a bit of a turn off. Many people are also turned off by the graphics of Myspace as people seem to choose to customize their page in the most annoying of ways.

Why Myspace is not dead for users

Myspace is not dead for users because with an alexa rank of twenty that means people are still using the site a lot. Also in addition to promoting musicians, myspace pairs up with popular movies like Twilight to release their new soundtrack which will keep Twilight fans flocking to Myspace. If Myspace can keep their connection to pop culture through celebrities, movies, and TV shows it will always be relevant. In addition to positioning it itself as a home for music, Myspace is trying to enter the gaming platform as well. It has partnered up with Zynga, the company that made Farmville on Facebook, and is looking to create games that are both fun that are not as invasive privacy wise as Facebook. Speaking of privacy Myspace is offering itself as an alternative to Facebook users privacy concerns by creating a setting where only your Myspace friends have access to your profile.

Why Myspace is dead for business


Unless you are a band, talent scout, model, or celebrity myspace is pretty much dead if you are a business. Branding is so much easier on facebook as your business can create a much more organized fan page. Given the choice between getting new likers or fans on Facebook versus making friends on Myspace, Facebook is a clear winner due to business status updates appearing in your likers news feeds. Until Myspace is more welcoming and organized businesses are always going to go with Facebook. In fact the head start Facebook has may be too much to overcome.

Why Myspace is not dead for business


With the mass exodus of businesses to Facebook there remains an opportunity for savvy businesses to fish in the pool of Myspace users by themselves. If you came up with an effective strategy to get Myspace users involved or invested in your business it is possible to do quite well on Myspace. The question though is making sure your Myspace marketing is productive, as if it is not you would be better off on Facebook. If you are a talent scout, musician, application designer then Myspace is certainly not dead and is still a very viable website. As long as Myspace stays relevant in terms of music and entertainment it will still have users flocking to the place for friends.

2 comments:

  1. What about specifically for the t-shirt designer? Is it worth the effort to have a MySpace page even if you have a Facebook account?

    I am a late bloomer to the social network scene and only recently set up a MySpace account. Is it a good idea simply to cover all the bases?

    I must add that I wasn't too impressed with MySpace after I first created my page with custom HTML. After a couple of days, all my HTML was wiped out, never to return, with no explanation or apology from the website. I had to start from scratch and just got done with the revamped page today. I wonder if it's because of incidents such as this that MySpace has fallen in the eyes of many. I must say that I don't think I will bother with it if the same problem occurs.

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  2. Hey Hockey Blades. I think there still is an opportunity out there with myspace for tshirt designers as the competition out there is extremely low. If you use myspace groups and make the right myspace friends you might be able to have a chance. At the same time however you have to compare the time spent on myspace to the time spent on facebook, twitter, and other social networks to see which one is more productive. My advice would be to try marketing your tees on myspace and see how it goes. If things are going nowhere move on to greener pastures. As for the html problem myspace does have an itchy trigger finger and has been known to delete custom pages or just ban accounts. In that respect if it happens again I wouldn't bother.

    Tim

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