Week 3 Tutorial: Goodbye, Myspace!

Myspace is a social networking site owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake.  Launched in August 2003, New Corporation bought the site for $580 million in 2005.  By early 2008, Myspace attracted 230,000 users per day, reaching its peak of $110 million members.  Myspace was the most visited social networking site in the world, surpassing Google in 2006; however, like all produce past their prime, Myspace hit its expiration date.  In April 2008, Facebook surpassed Myspace in the number of unique worldwide visitors.  Although Myspace made over $800 million during the 2008 fiscal year, the number of users and accounts had drastically decreased since then.

Myspace offers free accounts to users worldwide.  Members are allowed to share as much or little information about themselves as they please.  The site enables users to: upload picture and videos, link to others sites, customize their homepage with decorative wallpaper, attach a theme song to their page.  Users can then add anyone who has an account and begin socializing or networking.

Although Facebook has far outshined Myspace in the popularity contest, Myspace was indeed one of the biggest movements to hit the Internet.  So where, you ask, did Myspace go wrong?  To put it simply, the site is far too limiting.  While Myspace allows people to share pictures, messages and comments, Facebook took this concept to a whole new level by allowing its users to share a significantly larger variety of things, like links to appealing stories, tweets and webcam posts. 

The Facebook creators knew what their users wanted before they knew they wanted it; and when Facebook came out, those users realized their need for the possibilities Facebook provided.  While Facebook became a trend worldwide, web access through mobile phones became more popular, and made the network even more convenient to access.  Moreover, when users saw all their friends switching over to Facebook, they, too, wanted to see what all the hype was about.       

Today, our society keeps engaged and attached to this social media network because of its immediacy, mobility and accessibility of its content, which is something Myspace lacks.  Although Myspace is ancient history in today’s generation, it most definitely influenced Facebook and the way we use technology today.       

. "Myspace Takes Over Facebook." The Age. N.p., 14 Aug 2001. Web. 2 Aug 2012. <http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/facebook-takes-over-myspaces-world/2008/08/14/1218307068919.html>.