With the news that MySpace might open up to third-party applications like facebook has, promted me to sit back and think whats happening at MySpace?
The first thing i did was have a look at the Alexa rankings graph to see if the recent news matches the stats. See the graph on Statsaholic.com
From the graph you can clearly see that YouTube is still growing massively at a pretty steady rate. You can also see the MySpace is doing the same but not nearly as much, it even looks a bit like its slowing (just a bit though). Where as Facebook, although still smaller in traffic it is increasing at a greater rate, almost matching YouTube. So why is MySpace not growing as well?
- Are users bored with MySpace as they get the same experices every day they use it with no new tools?
- Facebook applications bring interest and a “i wonder whats coming next?” style of attitude?
- YouTube is simply better with videos?
I think itcould be all of the, hence why I suggested them. But i am going to investigate further. To do that i am going to look back over the past few months or so. This is when the traffic trend changes for facebook.
So what was the appeal back then and the difference in MySpace to drive them forward at a higher rate? Well I first started to use it becuase my sister (at university) keep sending me the annoying invite e-mails i get all the time. I finally gave in and was supprised with the simplicity and GUI looked so sleak. But it didn’t interest me until I saw little differences, the main thing being tagging you friends in photographs, this involved opining an uploaded photo and as long as your friend(s) who are in the photo have a facebook account you can click on them then when anyone else either searches for that person or hovers over and click on them in the photo their profile will appear. Appart from that the system was pretty similar i think it was just that it was new and a much better competitor for MySpace. I think it was just “more social” then MySpace. Interacting is much easier, you can post on a wall, message, send gifts, send “pokes” tag photos, join custom groups, you might think it sounds like MySpace but Facebook was just better at it.
The other similar sites, bebo, facepart and facebox/netlog never seem to get the amount of users Facebook has. But now that Facebook opened itself up to third party developers they have added a whole new area of people that will join up. Put simply the developers. People see how popular Facebook is and want to get in on the action so they build great little apps. The users then “add them” and more people see the potential in developing an application. I am actaully building one myself! This then sprials up in a kind of “viral marketing” way.
MySpace saw how great this was and have now hinted that they may be doing the same. The fact that they will probably do this just starts to show a new mentality from them. Before they we always the leader and any new tools (rare) they released would be copied by someone else. But now the roles have reversed. So as MySpace were always in the lead users joined them as not may people could get close to touching them.
So in this case I actually think that users might have seen Facebook as a better social network. MySpace is great for bands and advertising yourself but is limited in the interactiveity between users. With the new applications developers are creating it is increasing interactivity and socialising with every app that is release. I do think that users who sign up now are getting increasingly more interested in the new applications that are being built.
Duncan Riley from TechCunch has said:
Let me say from the offset that I’ve never personally understood the appeal of MySpace. I could devote pages to how terrible its feature set it, how compared to Facebook it has been poorly managed and how Facebook is the better platform. I get Facebook, and the numerous friend requests I get daily would suggest that many others do as well. However I’ve long since accepted that numbers don’t lie.
MySpace is at the top of the game, any growth from this point on is a bonus, many have said that MySpace has already peaked, the numbers would suggest otherwise.
The next sign that MySpace is playing catch upis the fact they are/have started renaming and structuring their MySpace Videos site. This is now MySpaceTv. It even has its on independant web address. www.myspacetv.com.
Please go to the site and tell me that it doesn’t look like it has been massively influenced by YouTube! Hard isn’t it? They even have a similar “Upload Videos” button on the top right. I think this is a clear sign that MySpace doesn’t want to overtake YouTube just nibble into their traffic. I have never used MySpace Videos in anger, just YouTube and I think that most “YouTubers” are pretty loyal. Would you agree? I’m not saying everyone loves YouTube and can’t imagine going to someone else and “having a virtual affair”. Anyway it is clear from my perspective that MySpace is trying to catch up with YouTube but is just copying them which is not the way to entice new users.
Of course this is all from a UK perspective, I imagine the US is similar but there are cultural differences. Take for instance that the average age of a Honda owner in the UK is about 50-60 where as its much lwer in the US!
So from the stats and the attitude of MySpace is this Catch up or damage limitation? They are on top of facebook, don’t get me wrong i am not saying that MySpace is in decline. But it is probably more damage limitation to stop them eating into their traffic. But with YouTube it is definitely seems like catch up.
Do you have any views on this? I don’t mind if they are good or bad, just not insulting!
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