Top 5 Reasons Why Myspace Has Jumped the Shark
A recent article I read mentioned how uber-popular social networking site myspace.com is dying. And while the article only mentioned how most bands are leaving the site as the reason, there are far more reasons to jump ship. There are several articles extolling the death knell for this site, but here are a five little reasons you may not be aware of:
5. The Bigger Better Deal - Myspace is quickly going the way of Friendster, Facebook, Tribe, and a dozen other social networking sites out there that are doing the same thing. And it seems like every day there are more carbon copies of myspace that might be doing it better. They may not have 3 million members, but it's only a matter of time before someone topples the giant.
4. Crappy coding - Myspace set up a simple site, then relied on hackers to make improvements. OOOH! you can change the look of your site by adding HTML to one of your profile sections? Why not just give people the option to customize their site without having to resort to a hack in the first place? Or better still, once you see this is how people are doing it, why not have your developers change your code to allow customizing things easier? Instead, the devs sat on their thumbs and let the money roll in.
3. Phony marketing strategy - Myspace would like you to believe that "Tom" is everyone's friend and he just built the website in his spare time on his college dorm computer or something. The fact of the matter is that myspace was a carefully planned system from the start. Designed from the ground up, by a team of people led by a board of directors. Putting the friendly grinning face of "Tom" on a page only serves to make the site look more personal, instead of the billion dollar marketing machine it really is. Its owned by NewsCorp. One of the largest conglomerates in the world owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is a modern day William Randolph Hurst. He has built his empire and makes billions. But go ahead and believe that "Tom" is really the guy running the place.
2. Spam Spam Spam - "Hi I'm Ginger and I just totally get off on nerdy geeks that sit in front of their computers for hours at a time. I've got a special website full of my naughty pictures of me and my friends having fun. Wont you be my friend?" Please. If women like this really existed in the numbers that myspace leads you to believe, there wouldn't be nearly as many people playing WOW at 3:30 in the morning.
1. And the number one reason big reason is that it has become socially trendy to claim how much myspace sucks. "Myspace? Oh Gawd, that was sooo 2005. I'm using ___ now. If you aren't on ____ you are retarded."
The more public attention something gets; the more mainstream it becomes, the less appealing it is to all those young, anti-establishment rebels out there. The unfortunate problem with this, though is that while everyone loves to hate the establishment, these individuals are also the prime consumer demographic that advertisers froth at the mouth over and spend millions trying to win their attention. And so begins a vicious cycle of attraction and repulsion that plays over and over again. Its only a matter of time before the next big thing comes along and myspace's value drops into the toilet.
Published by The Judge
The Judge has worked in the entertainment industry for over 19 years in a variety of positions. He is currently a professional film critic, Senior Editor and "Lord High Everything Else" for the entertainment... View profile
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19 Comments
Post a CommentYeah, I got a MySpace page..... I'm lame. Good article.
Trendy, shmendy! If you follow trends, you are no better than a lemming anyway. Use it like the tool that it is! Laser levels are trendy, but my good 'ol bubble level works just fine, because it gets the job done! If it causes people to laugh at me as I hang my shelves, let 'em laugh. Likewise, I'll use MySpace to promote my shitty music and give my REAL LIFE friends a place to catch up with me. I do agree about the spam, but if you got a good enough filter, that's no problem! Plus, you oughta be wary of freind requests that ooze sexuality anyway. Usually, it's the shiniest lure that catches the stupidest fish!
I know this is a technicality, but...
Rupert Murdoch didn't buy Myspace until last year and it's been around a lot longer than that. It wasn't a diabolical take-over scheme from the start. But the Media Giants were quick to jump when they saw the enormity of the audience and the advertising potential that developed within a few years.
I was hoping you'd talk about some poignant news. So far Rupert and crew have been hiding in the shadows and I haven't noticed their impact on the site yet. I've heard rumors that they're going to be policing the site a little more for copyright infringements. I've also heard rumors you'll be able to purchase music and clothes with the touch of a button on the site as well.
I find it even more interesting that they've been using Myspace to lure sexual predators... and plan to launch a big GET-OUT-AND-VOTE campaign for the next election...
Myspace will continue to exist, just as AOL does. For a while it was trendy to say how much AOL sucks.
In fact, I prefer it now that it's losing some of the popularity!
what you stated in your article is just some of the reason I hate blogsites and even why I sometimes HATE AC. I keep wondering how long before AC becomes nothening more then what MySpace is. :( Hopefully never because I like the money I'm making here. But still I hate blogging.
I know the next thing big thing that will topple Myspace! Its Associated Content, of course!
... always but three quarters of the year it is)...VERY well written article, but going downhill, I definitely have to disagree (it might not be as popular as it used to be for sure, but definitely still in the game). Just my 2 cents~~~(sorry for the length)
I think your article was well written but I totally disagree but I guess I am just one out of a few that do. I personally use myspace everyday to keep up with my friends and family from all over the world (and yes I have family and friends spread out that far), as well as friendster, live journal, a yahoo 360 page and a msn page...which I use all of them on occasion with myspace, live journal and friendster on the top of my lists. I have many friends who only use myspace to stay in touch with their loved ones overseas in the military and that keep in touch with some of the newer songs that come out without having to go somewhere like yahoo music or the such. I am not saying that yes, myspace has some downfalls...sometimes the pages crash, sometimes you have perverts try to befriend you (that is almost everywhere), friends who want to 'friend' you just becasue someone else is on your page and more...but I love changing my page to suit me and I often design my own page from scratch (not
I understand what you are saying in the article. but you also pointed out that it's a cycle... thus eventually even the site that brings down myspace will suffer the same fate. So what difference does it make. If you use Myspace, or any other 'space' for that matter, for what it is intended for and not just because it's trendy then it will serve its purpose.
Nice article ... I just very belated joined Myspace but doubt I will use it much ... There are just too many other easier and more asthetically appealing sites.