Myspace redesigns website in wasted effort

by Alexandria Byrd of North Texas Daily

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From 2005 until early 2008, Myspace was the most visited social networking site worldwide -- more than Google. The times have changed.

The glittery and gaudy layouts, top 53 friend lists, dramatic music playlists and statuses relating to the typical, hormonal wave of teenage emotions are only a mere memory of what Myspace used to be.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane. During the same year of the largest blackout in North American history, Myspace launched and revolutionized the art of communicating online in 2003.

From 2005 until early 2008, Myspace was the most visited social networking site worldwide, and in June 2006 outshined Google as the most visited website in the United States.

And then we grew up.

September 25 marked another moment of wasted effort for this social media blast from the past. The new 2 minute, 18 second Myspace video (above) is currently buzzing online and making a claim for this grandmother of websites to be the end-all-be-all of social media in 2012.

In case you have forgotten, this is the third major revamping of Myspace’s site design. Unfortunately, the third time will probably not be a charm.

This has a lot to do with the fact that the concept of personal statuses combined with music and entertainment news is nothing new. Meet Facebook, Bandcamp, Complex Magazine, Datpiff, Soundcloud – and the list goes on and on.

Myspace equates to when your 45-year-old mother wears a velour Juicy Couture jumpsuit while showing cleavage and doesn’t see the problem.

Justin Timberlake is reliving his role in the film The Social Network in reality as one of the main financial benefactors of the group that acquired Myspace, arguably one of the Internet’s biggest “fixer-uppers,” from News Corp in 2011.

As if the Internet was not already overly saturated with social media, Myspace, Tom and Timberlake are back with a drastic rebranding of what used to be the gateway to everything digitally social.

Myspace is trying desperately to change into a go-to music website that happens to have social networking capabilities. This is something users can get from every single other popular website, including the heavyweights Twitter and Facebook.

The current “connect with Facebook” link on Myspace serves as a red flag and reminder to return to a more fulfilling and highly populated website instead.

Myspace, you have had your chance. Just give it up. Don’t become another AOL. There’s still time to avoid that embarrassment. There is no need for this archaic and pathetic attempt to bring back a website that really no longer serves any purpose.

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