JUNE 24, 2009

The Future Of MySpace

News Corp.’s MySpace is undergoing some major changes this month, and people are wondering what it means for its future. Blogging Stocks painted a dire picture yesterday at “The bloodbath at MySpace continues”. It is reporting that about two-thirds of the global MySpace workforce will be fired, going from 450 to 150 employees. Last week, the company slashed about 30% of the U.S. workforce.

Mashable reports that everyone’s default friend, Tom Anderson, will still have a position and an “ambassador role” with the company, though it comes with a large paycut: Dream Job: MySpace’s Tom Gets $500k Per Year to Stop Coming to Work. He’ll still maintain his profile page and will continue to be the face of the company.

It doesn’t surprise me that MySpace had to make tough decisions to keep its business afloat. It has been struggling to keep up with Facebook in terms of unique visitors and monthly visits all year. If you’re wondering how MySpace’s situation compares to Facebook, it’s a completely different ballgame - Facebook has 850+ employees and is actively hiring!

Social networking sites have become a very popular medium for communication - a daily communication tool for some, and not just 18-24 year olds. I have a profile on MySpace and rarely go to it, but I check Facebook everyday and use the Facebook Blackberry application to update my status and upload mobile pictures when I’m away from my computer. Facebook has always been one step ahead of MySpace. In its infancy, you could only join Facebook if your college was an approved network. The exclusivity made it appealing, and Facebook addiction followed. Facebook kept up the good work by having great user interface and adding fun applications. It seems like MySpace is always playing catch up. In a sense, social networking sites are like cell phone providers: you only really need one. It’s most convenient when the people you talk to most use the same company. Sorry MySpace!