Myspace

Myspace

Myspace is an American social networking service. It was one of the largest social networking sites in the world, peaking between 2005 and 2008.

Myspace was founded in 2003 by Tom Anderson, Chris DeWolfe, and others at the digital marketing company Intermix Media. It quickly gained popularity, particularly among younger users, musicians, and independent artists, offering highly customizable profiles and a platform for content sharing.

In July 2005, Myspace was acquired by News Corporation for $580 million. Under News Corp's ownership, the site continued its rapid growth, eventually surpassing Google as the most visited website in the United States in 2006. However, its dominance was challenged by the rise of Facebook and other competing platforms, leading to a significant decline in user numbers and relevance starting in the late 2000s.

Following multiple redesigns and changes in ownership (including Specific Media Group/Justin Timberlake in 2011 and Time Inc. in 2016), Myspace now operates with a focus primarily on music and entertainment content, serving a much smaller audience compared to its peak years.

History

Founding and Early Growth (2003-2005)

Myspace originated as a project within Intermix Media (later renamed to ResponseSource), a Los Angeles-based internet marketing company. Recognizing the potential of the emerging social networking trend, particularly following the success of Friendster, employees including Tom Anderson, Chris DeWolfe, Brad Greenspan, Josh Berman, and Dale Dougherty developed Myspace in a relatively short period.

Launched in August 2003, Myspace initially leveraged Intermix Media's existing user base and marketing channels to quickly acquire users. Its features, such as customizable profiles using HTML and CSS, embedded music players, blogging tools, and the "Top 8" friends list, resonated strongly with users seeking self-expression and community. The site became especially popular within music scenes, offering independent artists a free platform to share their music and connect with fans. Much of its early user base migrated from Friendster, which struggled with technical issues and design limitations.

Acquisition by News Corporation and Peak Dominance (2005-2008)

In July 2005, media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired Intermix Media, including Myspace, for $580 million. The acquisition was seen as a strategic move for News Corp to expand its digital presence and tap into the rapidly growing online market.

Under News Corp's ownership, Myspace continued its explosive growth. By 2006, it had become the most visited social networking site globally and, for a brief period, the most visited website in the United States. The site's popularity was fueled by its strong connection to music culture, celebrity profiles, and its perceived "cooler" and more customizable interface compared to early rivals.

However, internal management issues, a focus on advertising over user experience, and slow innovation began to emerge during this period.

Decline (2008-2011)

Starting around 2008, Myspace began to experience a significant decline in popularity, largely overshadowed by the rapid rise of Facebook. Several factors contributed to this decline:

• Competition from Facebook: Facebook offered a cleaner interface, stronger privacy controls (at the time), a focus on real-life connections, and more reliable performance. Facebook's network effect grew exponentially, drawing users away from Myspace.
• User Experience Issues: Myspace's highly customizable profiles, while initially popular, often led to cluttered, slow-loading, and sometimes visually chaotic pages. The site also became increasingly plagued by spam, malware, and security concerns.
• Lack of Innovation: Compared to Facebook's continuous development of new features and a more stable platform, Myspace was perceived as stagnant and technically inferior.
• Management and Strategy: Critics argued that News Corp's management failed to adapt quickly to the changing social media landscape, prioritizing short-term advertising revenue over long-term platform development and user retention.
• Design Changes: Attempts to redesign the site often alienated existing users without attracting significant new ones.

Between 2008 and 2010, Myspace lost millions of users and its market share plummeted. Key executives, including founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, left the company.

Ownership Changes and Relaunches (2011-Present)

In June 2011, News Corporation sold Myspace to Specific Media Group (later renamed Viant Technology) and pop star Justin Timberlake for a reported $35 million – a fraction of the price News Corp paid six years earlier. The new owners announced plans for a significant relaunch, focusing on Myspace's roots in music and entertainment.

A major redesign and relaunch occurred in 2013, presenting a sleek, image-heavy interface centered around music streaming, artist profiles, and curated content. While the relaunch generated some initial buzz, it failed to recapture a large user base or restore Myspace's former relevance in the social networking space. Many legacy features and old profiles were not fully migrated or were difficult to access.

In February 2016, Time Inc. acquired Viant Technology, including Myspace. Following the acquisition of Time Inc. by Meredith Corporation in 2018 and then IAC in 2021 (which spun out Meredith's assets), Myspace remains part of the Viant portfolio.

Myspace continues to operate today, primarily as a music discovery and streaming platform with artist profiles, but it is no longer a major player in the social networking industry. A significant data loss incident in 2018 resulted in the permanent loss of millions of older user files, including songs and videos uploaded before 2015.

Features

At its peak, Myspace offered a variety of features that defined the early social networking experience:

• User Profiles: Highly customizable pages using HTML and CSS allowed users to personalize their background, layout, fonts, and colors, often embedding music players, videos, and images.
• Friends List & Top 8: Users connected by adding each other as friends. A prominent feature was the "Top 8," a publicly displayed list of eight friends chosen by the user, often leading to social drama and competition.
• Blogging: An integrated blogging platform allowed users to publish journals and posts directly on their profile.
• Messaging: Users could send private messages to their friends and other users.
• Groups: Users could join or create groups based on shared interests, hobbies, or locations.
• Music & Videos: Musicians could upload and share their songs directly on their profiles, often with an embedded player. Users could also embed videos. This feature was crucial for the site's role in launching music careers.
• Events: Users could create and share event listings.
• Comments: Users could leave public comments on each other's profiles.

Cultural Impact

Myspace had a significant cultural impact, particularly in the mid-2000s:

• Music Discovery: It served as a vital platform for independent and unsigned musicians to gain exposure, connect with fans, and even launch careers. Bands like Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, and many others built early fan bases on Myspace.
• Online Identity: The highly customizable profiles allowed users to express their identity and creativity online in ways not previously possible on simpler platforms. It was an early incubator for online personal branding.
• Introduction to Web Design: The ability to use HTML and CSS on profiles provided many young users with their first exposure to basic web coding.
• Friendster Migration: Myspace benefited significantly from users leaving Friendster, establishing a pattern of social network migration.
• "Tom" as the First Friend: Every new Myspace user automatically had "Tom" (Tom Anderson, co-founder) as their first friend, becoming an iconic and sometimes meme-like figure.

Criticism

Despite its popularity, Myspace faced significant criticism:

• Cluttered and Unsafe Design: The freedom of profile customization often resulted in visually overwhelming, slow-loading, and poorly designed pages. The lack of strict content control also led to issues with inappropriate content and autoplaying music/videos.
• Security and Spam: Myspace became notorious for spam, phishing attempts, malware distribution, and security vulnerabilities.
• Privacy Concerns: Like many early social networks, privacy settings were often confusing or insufficient.
• Technical Issues: The platform frequently suffered from performance problems, bugs, and downtime as it struggled to scale with its rapid growth.
• Advertising Overload: Under News Corp, the site became increasingly saturated with intrusive and sometimes misleading advertisements.

Conclusion

Myspace stands as a pivotal, albeit ultimately surpassed, figure in the history of social networking. From its founding in 2003 to its peak dominance in the mid-2000s, it defined early online social interaction for millions, particularly influencing music culture and personal online expression.

While its decline was swift and dramatic in the face of more agile and better-managed competitors like Facebook, Myspace's legacy as a pioneer in social networking, a launchpad for musical talent, and a platform that introduced many to the basics of web customization remains significant. Though its current iteration serves a niche audience focused on music, the story of Myspace is a crucial chapter in the evolution of the internet and online communities.

External links

• Official Website