Myspace: What Went Wrong 1

The Rise and Inglorious Fall of Myspace

Overview

The burgeoning popularity of social networking was ensured because of its

inherent novelty. Never before was it possible to socialize and share media with people

so extensively for practically a song. Coupled with the latest music on the market and an

interface to interact with artistes and it was a winning formula out and out. However the

dream run did not last.

Introduction

The reasons for the debacle are many, though they are scattered across from

infrastructural to marketing related. A huge element that was responsible for the drop in

user interest remains the lack of development of essential features, while focusing on

peripheral applications like play list functionalities and video players (Gillette, F., 2011).

Investing primarily in development of fanciful features took away the possible advantage

of having more control on the vital ones; resources were siphoned off into unproductive

applications that did not have appeal with users. Thus at the strategic level there was a

problem which got pushed under the carpet since the site appeared to be doing well. We

will analyze the factors that contributed to this unseemly outcome and evaluate how this

could be addressed.

The Problems

Strategic vision is vital to the survival and re-emergence of Myspace. Having lost

the cool-factor in the eyes of its market base the task ahead is to address the brand’s

personality. Garnering credibility with advertisers will remain a challenge so long as the

demographic of users remains fragmented. The sketchy platform development interface

Myspace: What Went Wrong 2

needs to be enabled to accommodate third party developers, and incentivizing such

development will be difficult if the switch to a friendly interface in not made.

Possible Directions

Ramping up the interface to one which is easily latched onto by programmers and

maintains a level of stability that rivals other content rich sites will be central to

rehabilitating Myspace. As it stands the website cannot create the applications which

have been instrumental in the rise of rivals like Facebook, because there are too many

kinks in the framework (Scoble, R., 2011).

Focusing on interactive channels between musicians and industry professionals

could create a new burst in the level of engagement from artists that is currently very

sparse (Levine, S., 2011). Recruiting industry professionals who can fish for talent in

amateur cliques will generate more activity around the fans of big successful artistes and

the overall traffic on the website. Going overboard with applications is also a pitfall to be

avoided; Facebook may be entering rough waters with the timeline feature that prioritizes

information for the user, potentially irritating them (Davey, R., 2012). Finally, it would

create a flutter if bands could use the platform to monetize their music in the way itunes

does it. Only here the level of interactions and additional functionality could bolster the

strength of sales and create audience for newer artistes.

In Conclusion

A mix of infrastructural revamping and strategic marketing will enable Myspace

to regain lost space in the social network market. Finding the sweet-spot in terms of

useful and core applications without disturbing the ethos of freedom and vivacity of the

demographic will be the key to executing a winning strategy.

Myspace: What Went Wrong 3

References

Davey, R., Does Facebook Have a Big Problem. Hypebot. Updated on February 15,

2012. Accessed on February 21, 2012. http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot

/2012/02/does-facebook-have-a-big-problem.html

Gillette, F., The Rise and Inglorious Fall of Myspace. Cover Story, Business Week.

Updated on June 22, 2011. Accessed on February 21, 2012. http://www.

Businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_27/b4235053917570.htm.

Levine, S., “The Problem with Myspace Music…”, Entertainment, Huffington Post .

Updated on January 8, 2011. Accessed on February 21, 2012. http://www.huffing

tonpost.co.uk/steve-levine/the-problem-with-myspace-_b_914682.html.

Scoble, R, MySpace’s death spiral: insiders say it’s due to bets on Los Angeles and

Microsoft. Scoblizer. Updated on March 24, 2011. Accessed on February 21,

2012. http://scobleizer.com/2011/03/24/myspaces-death-spiral-due-to-bets-on-

los-angeles-and-microsoft/.