The site has gone through some pretty rough times over the years, but believe it or not, lots of people still use it as one of their main social networks. Here’s a brief look at how Myspace started, when it began to decline, and how it’s attempting to make a comeback.
The Most Visited Social Network From 2005 to 2008
Myspace launched in 2003. Friendster gave inspiration to the founders of Myspace, and the social network officially went live on the web in January 2004. After its first month online, over one million people signed up. By November 2004, that number grew to 5 million. By 2006, Myspace was visited more times than Google Search and Yahoo! Mail, becoming the most visited website in the United States. In June of that year, Myspace was reportedly responsible for nearly 80 percent of all social media traffic.
Myspace’s Influence Over Music and Pop Culture
Myspace is now a social networking site for musicians and bands, as well as a featured content publisher. People use the site to show off talent and connect with fans. Artists can upload their complete discographies and even sell music from their profiles. For a while, Myspace was the only name in town for fledgling musicians. In 2008, a major redesign launched for the music pages, which brought along new features. During the time that Myspace was most popular, it served as a valuable tool for musicians.
Losing to Facebook
As explosive as Myspace was, it paled in comparison to how quickly Facebook grew into the internet behemoth it is today. In April 2008, both Facebook and Myspace attracted 115 million unique global visitors per month, with Myspace still winning in the U.S. alone. In December 2008, Myspace experienced peak U.S. traffic with 75.9 million unique visitors. As Facebook grew, Myspace underwent a series of layoffs and redesigns as it tried to redefine itself as a social entertainment network. It was estimated in March 2011 that the site had dropped from attracting 95 million to 63 million unique visitors within the past year.
The Struggle to Innovate
Although several factors triggered Myspace’s decline, one argument held that the company never figured out how to innovate well enough to keep up with the competition. Both Facebook and Twitter continued to roll out major redesigns and features that helped reshape the social web for the better, whereas Myspace remained more or less stagnant, and never really made a comeback—despite its effort to roll out several redesigns.
How Users View Myspace
In the minds of many, Myspace is unofficially dead. It’s certainly not as popular as it once was, and it has lost a lot of money. Most people have moved on to other social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. For artists, video sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo have grown into massive social community sites that can be used to generate huge exposure.
The Current State of Myspace
Officially, however, Myspace is far from dead. If you go to myspace.com, you’ll see that it is very much still alive, though it has mostly transitioned away from social networking to become a curated music and entertainment site. As of 2019, the site boasted over 7 million monthly visits. In 2012, Justin Timberlake tweeted a link to a video featuring a completely new Myspace platform redesign and a new focus on bringing music and social media together. Four years later in 2016, Time Inc. acquired Myspace and other platforms owned by parent company Viant to access data that could be leveraged for ad-targeting. On Myspace’s front page, you’ll find a variety of entertainment news stories not just about music, but also movies, sports, food, and other cultural topics. Profiles are still a central feature of the social network, but users are encouraged to share their own music, videos, photos, and even concert events. Myspace certainly isn’t what it once was, nor does it have the active user base it did when it peaked in 2008, but it’s still alive. If you love music and entertainment, it might be worth checking out.
