At the end of the technology bubble of the early 2000s, Myspace emerged as one of the largest, fastest growing Internet companies easily with over 100 million members. That was until Facebook took Myspace’s market share among the fastest growing user segment (young adults) and left it to rot. Now several years later, Facebook is on the cusp of ruling the social networking world, while Myspace is still trying to find a way to reinvent itself. According to Forbes.com, Facebook just topped Myspace and Linkedin as the most” Loyal” social networking site. So is it any surprise that Myspace’s new positioning strategy incorporates positioning the site as a “complimentary offering to Facebook and other social platforms”? The answer is NO. It seems as Myspace has devised a new corporate motto, if you can’t beat them, then join them.
Myspace is hoping the integration of their platform with that of Facebook, Twitter, and Flicker will help Myspace in “becoming the leading social entertainment destination”. In the past, Myspace has been seen as place for music and young teens to connect with pop culture. Myspace hopes to build on that format by allowing members to Facebook to “like” its programs and also to coordinate “tweets” with your music sharing. So far the “Sync with Facebook” has resulted in an integration of 1 million new users, but can this desperate attempt to cut Myspace back in the loop, blow up in their face? Yes. Integration works both ways, first company a shares with company b, just as company b shares with the company a. In this example, the element that both companies would be “sharing” is its members. In this scenario I don’t believe Myspace’ integration techniques such as suggesting its members to use other platforms will bode well for business. Myspace is hoping that by being a central network to connect to all these social networking sites, games and music that it can maintain dominance and market growth. Lets just hope their right…
Facebook Tops Myspace & Linkedin as the most loyal site
Wikipedia.org/wiki/myspace
