New York — Attempting to regain its lost ground to Facebook and Twitter, dwindling social network site MySpace is geared up to unleash a complete redesign of its homepage. The revamped user homepage is focused around two information streams with lots of white surrounding space, abandoning MySpace’s trademark dark and busy backdrop.
The beleaguered site, which has witnessed a sharp decline to its UK audience by half during the last 12 months, began previewing the new version of the revamped homepage last night to users, ahead of the official August 16 redesign.
According to reports, the new interface has been given a fresh design to appear less cluttered and give a neater look. With the complete new overhaul, which focuses on the introduction of a friend news feed and an increased emphasis on sharing content across the site.
MySpace is previewing a look at its new user homepage which has several similarities to Facebook. Photo: MYSPACE
Users of the revamped site will notice that the “Recommendations” have now been grouped together in one section rather than being spread around. Also, another attribute for users to look out for, is the section “My Stuff,” which allows users quick access to their photos, videos and music without needing to leave the homepage.
The story, which was covered as an exclusive, was broken by social media site Mashable today. Writing on the blog, Mashable’s Ben Parr commented:
“Christina Wodtke, General Manager of Social Networking at MySpace, told me that they have a lot of loyal users that have been with MySpace for a long time, but they have not really discovered all that MySpace has to offer. The new homepage is an attempt to show users, especially younger ones, what is cool and interesting on the MySpace network.”
Another interesting element that would surprise you is the MySpace Stream — just like MySpace’s recent profile redesign, the Stream is front and center, delivering a newsfeed of information about friends directly to the user. With the inclusion of a stream solely dedicated to content users are sharing, MySpace is hoping to place greater emphasis on content discovery across the site. This type of content-led strategy was initiated by Owen Van Natta, MySpace’s former chief executive, whose sudden exit stunned staff earlier this year, when trying to reverse the site’s decline.
Technology analysts have observed how similar the ‘MySpace two column stream’ looks to Facebook’s ‘NewsFeed’.
Media Week’s Mike Shields said: “MySpace is beginning to resemble a whole lot more like Facebook…The new look, one of several planned changes for the beleaguered site, is a departure from MySpace’s typical dark and cluttered look — as the homepage will soon be marked by a striking amount of Facebook-esque white space.”
The site which was established in 2003 and is based in California, accredited as the most popular networking site in the U.S. in June 2006, appealing mainly to users in the age bracket of 13-34 years of age. Today, though, it sees stiff competition from Facebook, Twitter and others.
The news of the MySpace redesign comes at an uncertain time for the company, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation group. Indeed, the site currently ranks 25th for internet traffic, is reported to have suffered a 49 per cent drop in users since 2007. It is hoped that the new prominent revamped homepage will reach out to a much wider audience and increase its user numbers.