San Francisco — Social network pioneer MySpace faces growing problem staying relevant as Facebook’s user base continues to explode. But on Wednesday, MySpace unleashed its latest redesigned site with a focus on entertainment and content rather than subscriber-driven profiles, pulling in social elements that are more akin to Twitter and Foursquare than rival Facebook.
Recently, MySpace has experienced tough competition from Facebook; the News Corp.-owned site caters about 100 million users as compared to Facebook’s 500 million. MySpace acknowledges as much with Wednesday’s revamp, saying pointedly that “previously MySpace was people-focused, now the focus is content.”
MySpace’s new site design is intended on targeting the “Generation Y” younger audience as it seeks to regain ground lost to Facebook. It aims to help Gen Y users seek a “broad array of programming, including originals, exclusives, and content from around the Web.” The company is also encouraging users to share their interests on their profiles, as well as “connect” to others who share those interests.
Myspace, which Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. acquired for 580 million dollars in 2005, stated its updated website and products are intended to “redefine the company as a social entertainment destination for Gen Y.”
“This marks the beginning of an exciting turning point for Myspace,” chief executive Mike Jones said in a statement.
“Our new strategy expands on Myspace’s existing forte — a deep understanding of social, a wealth of entertainment content and the ability to surface emerging cultural trends in real-time through our users,” Jones said.
A view of the new MySpace Profile page. (Credit: MySpace) Click to enlarge…
According to Myspace, the relaunch is devised at “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,” it said.
In an attempt to customize the MySpace experience to the user, the site will now feature a personalized stream that displays content from across the site that the user is most likely to care about based on their habits while using MySpace. In addition, MySpace is also introducing a “Recommendations” feature, which lists some topics users might want to consider delving into or fans they might want to connect with. MySpace said that its recommendations engine is powered by “algorithms that learn the type of content a user views, listens to, or watches, and from whom or where they discovered it.”
Myspace mentioned that it will focus on promoting “curators” — members with knowledge around entertainment and cultural topics and back them with “resources, tools and platform to expand their reach within the Myspace community.”
The social networking pioneer said the completely rebuilt website includes “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,” Myspace said.
Once users log in to their accounts, the new MySpace welcome page will instantly display entertainment content they might like based on the site’s understanding of their interests. The goal, MySpace said, is to “create a unique, contextually relevant discovery experience.”
To achieve that goal, the company has released several “products” to get people to the content they really care about.
One of those products, called Topics, links MySpace audiences to over 20,000 “entertainment-focused, dynamic pages.” Those pages ascribe content on entertainment topics from a number sites, including MTV, The Village Voice, and The New York Times. In addition, MySpace has created “Content Hubs” that zero in on movies, television shows, or celebrities. Each hub will feature articles and related content to the hub’s focus. The company plans to offer games, comedy, sports, and fashion hubs “in the coming months.”
Furthermore, similar to Foursquare, MySpace plans to introduce a reward system called “Reputation,” where users can earn badges for their social activity around entertainment topics that appear in their news stream.
On the profile front, MySpace will unfurl a “My Stuff” section that drops down to display different “drawers” of personal information–profile, photos, videos, and uploaded content. If someone makes someone public, it will become part of the Discovery Tab.
To keep users connected while on the go, MySpace promised to release a Web-based mobile version of the revamped sight soon and release an app for the iPhone and Android handsets “later this year.”
The new MySpace begins rolling out today in beta and will be available to all users worldwide by the end of November.
View the demo of new Myspace here: