Throughout the short history of the internet, users have seen shifts in popular social networks. The two most prominent social networks currently are indubitably Facebook and Twitter, both receiving millions and millions of posts a day. Facebook, however, was not always considered to be the conventional or go-to social network. The critical acclaim and implementation of social networking into the lives of millions started during August of 2003 in Beverly Hills, California, through MySpace, albeit its eminence mainly being in the time period of 2005 to early 2008. Facebook led to the decline of MySpace, but could MySpace be ready for a comeback, and, more importantly, could it dethrone Facebook?
MySpace may be attempting a comeback, but not as the main social network. Rather than networking, the website is going to try to become a cutting-edge social entertainment website focusing on multimedia and pop-culture, something that it had helped to develop. There are plans and expectations of Facebook and MySpace becoming complimentary of each other as opposed to rival social networks. The MySpace generation will most likely remember how many musicians have their roots in and flourished through MySpace, in addition to movies and other independent media. The revival of the social networking site as a multimedia center could result in the rejuvenation of indie culture, a prevalent force in the zenith of MySpace’s popularity.
Much of indie culture conveys an extremely prevalent theme of self-expression, which MySpace is clearly appealing to. Even MySpace’s tagline, “The social network for the creative community,” displays this. That being said, the creativity and features such as HTML and CSS coding for fully customized pages is an appealing idea to more than just a few. These features; however, were complicated to many users, so a more basic template has been added, with HTML and CSS being optional customization tools. This describes just one of the many methods MySpace is utilizing to gain users. Another clever attempt to draw users to the new version of this once eminent website is a feature called “Mash up with Facebook”, which allows users to connect their accounts for both websites together. This can be viewed as an acceptance of Facebook’s superiority as a social network
As for views peoples’ views on whether MySpace will successfully come back, no one can be completely sure. Senior Jenny Morfin stated that, “Facebook is really popular and MySpace is boring. If it does come back for music, people can go on YouTube and listen to it.” On a more positive note for the website, senior Becky Moua explained that, “If people go back to it, then it is obvious that a comeback will happen.” The first opinion shows a common view that MySpace is doomed to fail because of the more common websites in today’s society, but the second shows the true bandwagon nature of any media and social networking website; more people means more content, and more content means more viewers. This is the cycle of all multimedia and social sites, and it was one of the main causes of MySpace’s downfall.
Though it will be a great challenge, if MySpace can garner viewers and members once again, this bandwagon effect will most likely populate the website. The addition of many simple and complex customization options as well as the media portion of the site being dominant to the social network side will surely assist the website in its efforts. Albeit slim, the chances of MySpace’s repopulation do exist.
