Credit: http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/060324_inside_myspace_grave.jpg
060324_inside_myspace_grave.jpg
  • Riverfront Times

It’s official: MySpace is falling apart. Yesterday, the company announced 500 layoffs (about half of everyone who worked there, and almost the same number as people still holding active accounts.)

Remember when MySpace was “it”? When “it” was supposedly making such a giant impact on everything in pop culture— from the next big TV star to the promotion of the next big band? When “it” was the platform for our generation (and also for GIFs that sparkle, and wolf pictures, and bad spelling and punctuation)?

And then came Facebook. The one-time competitor, but now conqueror. And now, in less than a decade’s time, MySpace stands deserted. Forsaken for another site where all you really do—still!—is message friends, upload photos, listen to music and videos, overshare, and cyber-stalk people you haven’t seen in years,

So what happened? Was it another of society’s ever-changing, unpredictable whims? A superior, cleaner interface? People who like Big Brother sharing all their personal data? That’s what I’m asking myself.

Here’s a thought: Maybe it’s like a coming-of-age story. No, seriously, hear me out.

We were all probably all over MySpace back when we were 12. Whenever you even think about the site, it’s hard not to also think of being 12. Even if you started your profile when you were in your 20s. But Facebook, on the other hand, it’s like going to college. It’s tidy. The spangles are all gone. No more personalizing your lockers or Trapper Keepers. And grownups use it.

Somebody smart would figure out the next great social networking site, one that fit the next great chapters in our lives. Like, oh, a midlife crisis. You would be rich! Except for one thing: people already use Facebook for that, too…. damn.

15 replies on “Myspace Is (Even More) Dead”

  1. Myspace looked terrible, and allowed everyone in.

    Facebook had a clean, pleasing design and had an exclusivity (only college students) that helped it quickly build word of mouth and people tended to join in great big groups.

    I think there would be a market for two separate sites that ONLY allowed HS or college students. People liked that part of things, and letting any dum dum (or parent) with an email address join, combined with oodles of shitty 3rd party apps, has made FB way less enjoyable.

    Also, I feel super old talking to someone who started on myspace at age 12 (I think I was still dialing up at age 12). (a landline phone).

  2. Yeah, I remember when myspace was “it.” I also remember when it sucked mad balls 24/7/365. That site was a pain to use. They did it wrong.

    @CC: you want to know the one (1) main thing that makes me barely ever use FB? It is this: when you’re scrolling down and looking at items in your feed, and then you click on something like a picture, and then you click “back” to go back to the feed, it starts you all the way back at the top of your feed. Why doesn’t it jump down to where you were before, like it does on other websites? TMS (too much scrolling)

  3. @ROM
    Just right click and open that stuff up in a new tab. From a programming standpoint, that stuff can be a bitch to get working correctly with all the different browser variations out there.

    And before Facebook was Friendster, and WAY before that was BBS’s. BBS’s were like Facebook, except the graphics were text, only 1-3 people could be on it at any given time, and there was only ever one or two user accounts that had a girl’s name attached to them.

    While in high school, I did once use the BBS in town to locate a friend from jr. high since I had changed schools, so that was kinda like Facebook.

  4. Man when I was twelve my afterschool job was carrying punchcards to the mainframe at a nickel per. It was worth it because I could punch my own cards and put them in the stack and get free computer time. In 1952 I coordinated the first computer users’ meet-up but the party was a bust (too many chips not enough dip).

  5. It was the outdated interface that screwed Myspace – made worse by the 3rd party apps (as CC pointed out). If it didn’t crash every other time you got on it might’ve stood a chance. FaceCrack will go the way of the Dodo when they go public with their stock. Tre unfashionable.
    Love your story Sexmachine.

  6. I dialed up to BBSs from ages 8 to 12 or so, until Compuserve brought us the flickering early fires of the “Internet,” with the help of a plucky (if obscure) Tennessee senator.

  7. Oh Compuserve and your user ids with commas. Even my spellchecker doesn’t know you.

    Would have liked to tried Compuserve but Yakima had no dial in point, so paying long distance to the Tri-Cities to pay another $6-12 for Compuserve made it a non-starter for me. So into the home of a hardcore Rush fan I dialed…good ole Temples of Syrinx BBS.

  8. I wish FB allowed for GIFs, otherwise FB is far more stream-lined & easy to manage. Waaay too many people were junking up their myspace page with all kinds of tacky bullshit. You couldn’t even go to most pages without it crashing your pc. Plus, maybe if the overlords who ran MS weren’t deleting pages left & right for little or no reason, afew people might’ve been abit more inclined to stay on.

  11. Myspace died because they no longer allowed many customizations and it’s AD is almost 50% of the Page so that really BLOWS. FaceBook is clean and has a nice format so you don’t feel like you’re selling someones product.

  12. myspace didnt die because of facebook, it died because tom sold it and whoever he sold it to gave it a bunch of virisis.. and then everyone went to facebook because thats really the only other social networking site, if myspace was still toms, everyone would still be on it..

  13. Men MYSPACE IS Just WACK Because All The EXTRA Changing That New Owner DID. SHIT HE Needa Change That Shit Back To MYSPACE The One The PPL Actually Enjoy Logging In The Myspace We Had Before With Profile 1.0 & 2.0 ..Maybe if They Did People WOULD ACTUALLY START FUCKIN JOINING AND LOGGING IN ON MYSPACE. I Enjoy Fixing My Page.! Now Is All WACK And Dumb Because… Its CONFUSING .! They Needa Give TOM His Shit BACK.!

  14. Hah yeah, my thought exactly. However if MySpace hadn’t changed its layout soo damn much, we’d probably still be using it.
    If they brought back the old version, before it went to 2.0 and whatnot, I think a lot of people would get excited.

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