The My-Fill-In-the-Space Reset Is Here, as Struggling Social Network Morphs Into Entertainment Hub

October 26, 2010 at 10:56 pm PT

Empty bracket or no empty bracket: Will it work?

That’s pretty much the big question at News Corp. tonight, as its much beleaguered social networking site, Myspace, rolls out a new beta version aimed at shifting its fortunes.

And how will it do that? By moving dramatically away from its roots as a social networking site–and far, far away from powerhouse Facebook–and becoming a “social entertainment” hub aimed directly at the Gen Y audience.

That means heavy emphasis on the sharing and discovery of music, television, movies, games, videos and photos from within Myspace and without. There is also an upcoming new mobile site and better apps for smartphones and tablets.

And it also includes a new logo that features “my” with an actual fill-in-the-space bracket after it.

By the way, it’s now “Myspace”–dropped second cap–rather than the old “MySpace,” and the new color palette is black, not blue.

It is a bold, if risky, move, which could result in a dramatic decline of users or–despite the grim reality of second acts on the Internet–reset Myspace to begin a new cycle of growth.

For sure, as you can see from the screenshots below, it is a cleaner, hipper and much more attractive offering, with a tile format, ridding Myspace of its longtime cheap and noisy feel.

You can still toggle to a list or video view of the homepage.

Still, Myspace continues with the irksome moving parts, such as continually updating live notifications and real-time rolling number tickers that move constantly as people share various content.

It sort of reminds me of that national-debt clock in Times Square in Manhattan, but not as riveting.

Amid the better ability for bands and artists to more easily attract fans and promote themselves on Myspace, regular users can also become social arbiters–called “curators”–by active and useful sharing of their tastes.

And, perhaps most important of all, you can bring in a lot of outside sources, broadcast out to Facebook and have a two-way feed with Twitter.

Behind the scenes, Myspace has also done a major overhaul of its tech structure, which has been much maligned. In fact, it was once described to me as being made of “bubblegum and baling wire.”

Here’s an appalling stat, for example: There have been 117 different Myspace logos created for the service.

We’ll see how it goes, but here are videos Myspace did about the launch, including a logo-ganza:

And here are more screenshots than you ever would want (click on the images to make them larger):

Finally, here is the official press release:

MEET THE NEW MYSPACE

Myspace Debuts New Brand, Beta Website and Suite of Products That Focus on Social Entertainment for Gen Y

Beverly Hills, October 27, 2010 – Today Myspace announced a new brand, beta website and a suite of products that together redefine the company as a social entertainment destination for Gen Y. Myspace is creating a rich, highly personalized experience for people to discover content and connect with other fans who share similar interests. The entertainment experience will span music, celebrities, movies, television and games and will be available through multiple platforms, including online, mobile devices and offline events.

“This marks the beginning of an exciting turning point for Myspace. Our new strategy expands on Myspace’s existing strengths–a deep understanding of social, a wealth of entertainment content and the ability to surface emerging cultural trends in real time through our users,” said Mike Jones, CEO of Myspace. “Myspace is unique in that it is powered by the passions of our users, who program the site by expressing interests, sharing tastes and knowledge around particular topics, and scouting out up-and-coming subcultures. This is the just the first step and there will be many more features, programs and improvements to come.:

Specifically, Myspace will provide people with the ability to:

Discover and engage with Myspace’s broad array of programming, including originals, exclusives and content from around the Web.

Express, collect, and display their creations and interests on their profiles and through sharing tools.

Connect to other fans with similar tastes.

Myspace will also focus on promoting curators–a subset of its audience whose reputation and knowledge around particular entertainment topics and emerging cultural trends make them uniquely influential–by supporting them with the resources, tools and a platform to expand their reach within the Myspace community.

Newly Designed Beta Site

Myspace has completely rebuilt its website, with a new visual identity and product features that put content center stage. From the color palette to the way the site is organized to the improved navigation, everything has been redesigned to help people easily find relevant content.

The redesigned Myspace welcome page showcases fresh content as it bubbles up across the beta site in real time. Additionally, once a user logs in to Myspace, the page will instantly populate with content based on the individual’s interests, creating a unique, contextually relevant discovery experience.

Registered users can now also toggle between three different views of the homepage, each specifically designed to display their stream in the way that resonates most. These include:

List view: Traditional view

Grid view: A magazine-like format

Play view: A video format that allows users to watch, forward and resize their updates to full screen

To complement the online experience, Myspace will soon release a mobile version of the beta site, accessible on any mobile browser. A new Myspace app for iPhone and Android devices will follow later this year.

New Products

Myspace has released a suite of initial features that empower people to discover, collect and display entertainment content, while also offering tailored recommendations. These features include:

Topics–Myspace features more than 20,000 entertainment-focused, dynamic pages organized around topics. These pages provide a centralized location to view aggregated information about specific subject matter from a wide variety of news sites and blogs including MTV, Los Angeles Times, Access Hollywood, New York Times, Village Voice and Just Jared.

Content Hubs–These comprehensive entertainment destinations are specifically dedicated to movies, television and celebrities. The pages combine programmed editorial with trending articles that feature news, videos and photos from various content partners. Additionally, each individual article within the hubs recommends related content and topics. Hubs focused on games, comedy, sports and fashion will be revealed in the coming months.

Personalized Stream–The new stream automatically learns what to feature based on a user’s preferences and habits, so they see more of what they love and less of what they don’t.

Recommendations–This feature recommends relevant topics and other fans based on algorithms that learn the type of content a user views, listens to or watches and from whom or where they discovered it.

‘Right now on Myspace’–This feature shows trending content in real time on Myspace, helps fans find recently added music and videos, and lets them listen or watch right from the interactive chart. Myspace uses these trends to inform recommendations that promote discovery and engagement.

Discovery Tab–This always accessible tab combines videos that friends are watching with what’s trending in real time on Myspace. Scroll to the top of any page and the new Discovery Tab drops down as a horizontal film strip.

My Stuff TabMy Stuff is an easy way to see all that’s personal to a user – their profile, photos, videos and uploaded content, structured as a drop-down menu with different content areas.

Badges–This feature recognizes and rewards curators and fans for their social activity around entertainment topics on the beta site and promotes them with badges – graphic icons that appear in a user’s stream.

New Brand Identity

Myspace has also introduced a new logo that captures its revamped brand identity and values. The bracket in the logo represents a space where people can express themselves, enabling users to personalize the logo and make it their own–just as they can throughout Myspace.

The newly-designed Myspace begins rolling out today in beta and will be available to all users worldwide by the end of November. New users will have immediate access to the beta site. For more information, please visit www.myspace.com/newmyspace

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comments so far. Add yours.

http://twitter.com/mpacific Mikey P

Though I probably won’t use it, it’s good to see that the Myspace team still cares enough to give it one last go, and not just let the site fade into obscurity.
http://twitter.com/suebasko Sue Basko

The new enforced myspace layout is TERRIBLE. First, bands and musicians DO NOT want an identical layout. The beauty of myspace was that each music artist could have its own wonderful design.

Myspace could be the #1 place for musicians — and in fact, it was. Then — they put ads that interfered with the function of the music players. Then as if that was not destructive enough, they then put loud, vocal ads onto the playlist music players.

Then, when that was not enough of an insult and a way to drive away users, they came up with the new enforced layouts — which are bland, ugly, impossible to read or look at, old-fashioned and dated-looking, as “hip” as matching shirts worn by fast food workers.

Many music artists had gone to the trouble of turning their myspaces into works of art– each reflecting the character and style of the band or artist. Now, that will soon all be gone.

Whoever made this decision should be FIRED, pronto. The bands and music artists DO NOT want this, the other users do not want this, the record companies do not want this, no one wants this except for some destructive, short-sighted schmoe at the myspace company. And a short-sighted schmoe who I hope is soon out of a job.

OH — and as if THAT is not bad enough — NOW myspace has added a spy feature where you can tell who has been on your myspace and vice versa. NO ONE wants this and people are TERRIFIED of it. yes, yes, it is all optional. Myspace browsing has now all but ceased due to this. Page hits are down down down.

WHAT THIS MEANS: MYSPACE has intentionally, systematically destroyed itself as place for music. The nail is all but in the coffin. At the same time, Facebook plans to remove all tabs for apps, meaning Facebook sites will soon not have music tabs, players, etc.

SO – WHAT THIS MEANS is that these two have utterly turned their backs on musicians and bands by making destructive, unwanted lessening of services AND THE FIELD IS WIDE OPEN for a new music-oriented leader to step in with a site that actually is GOOD and cares about the musican / band users. that sure is not myspace or Facebook.

Oh — and the dopey thing of saying you can make it my___ – I can think of some really good ways to fill in that blank!
http://twitter.com/suebasko Sue Basko

The new enforced myspace layout is TERRIBLE. First, bands and musicians DO NOT want an identical layout. The beauty of myspace was that each music artist could have its own wonderful design. Myspace could be the #1 place for musicians — and in fact, it was. Myspace has the BEST SEO! Then, to wreck the good thing they had going — they put visual pop-in ads that interfered with the function of the music players. The drop in myspace usage directly correlates to this. How could it not? Then, as if that were not destructive enough, they then put loud, vocal ads onto the playlist music players. On a music site, why would you even consider ruining the music players? Then, perhaps thinking those unwanted changes were not enough of an insult and a way to drive away users, they came up with the new enforced layouts — which are bland, ugly, impossible to read or look at, old-fashioned and dated-looking, as “hip” as matching shirts worn by fast food workers. The wonderful, creative, identifying myspace layouts were gone for good when the unwary user clicked a simple button. Fun, creativity, beauty, hipness, individuality — all of it — gone. Replaced with what? Just the ugliest matching layout ever. NO ONE wants this! NO ONE!!! Many music artists had gone to the trouble of turning their myspaces into works of art– each reflecting the character and style of the band or artist. Now, that will soon all be gone.Whoever made this decision should be FIRED, pronto. The bands and music artists DO NOT want this, the other users do not want this, the record companies do not want this, no one wants this except for some destructive, short-sighted schmoe at the myspace company. And a short-sighted schmoe who I hope is soon out of a job.OH — and as if THAT is not bad enough — NOW myspace has added a spy feature where you can tell who has been on your myspace and vice versa. NO ONE wants this and people are TERRIFIED of it. Yes, yes, it is all optional. Myspace browsing has now all but ceased due to this. Page hits are down down down. The very idea of this is downright creepy. How could anyone think this was a good idea? it is the exact opposite of a good idea. It is yet another terrible idea. WHAT THIS MEANS: MYSPACE has intentionally, systematically destroyed itself as place for music. The nail is all but in the coffin. At the same time, Facebook plans to remove all tabs for apps, meaning Facebook sites will soon not have music tabs, players, etc. SO – WHAT THIS MEANS is that these two have utterly turned their backs on musicians and bands by making destructive, unwanted lessening of services — AND THE FIELD IS NOW WIDE OPEN for a new music-oriented leader to step in with a site that actually is GOOD and cares about the musican / band users. That sure is not myspace or Facebook. But some enterprising, caring person, hello out there? Here is a chance for you to make it B-I-G — because the field is now wide open! Oh — and the dopey thing of saying you can make it my___ — I can think of some really good ways to fill in that blank!
http://rendion.myopenid.com/ render

I think it could work. Now that Facebook has demonstrated a better organized, spam reduced, tamer social network, I could see Myspace learning from that and having better, more compelling content to offer.

But in the end, the expectation is not high. Myspace has a rep for being one of the most unusable, ugliest, spam ridden cesspools of a web site. And you cant deliver great content and manageable social networks if you are just a chaos bot.

Id like to see them do it. Facebook is boring and I dont see it as a compelling content model. Yahoo and AOL cant do it so good luck Myspace. Make it not suck.
http://rendion.myopenid.com/ render

Bands made such a good use of myspace, I think they really should have run with that further. If they lose that myspace may be just another website in the dustbin.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=582513828 Eric Schatz

Duh, merge the site with the American Idol site.
http://www.kleendrybh.com Tile Cleaning Hollywood

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The My-Fill-In-the-Space Reset Is Here, as Struggling Social Network Morphs Into Entertainment Hub

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