MySpace is Sick & Dying
One can only guess what exactly caused them to terminate their account with MySpace, but there are a large number of very obvious ones that could be tossed out. Viruses, privacy issues, lawsuits, horrendous deign(s), unreliability, competition and OpenID just to name a few.
Within the last month two of my friends have contracted viruses from MySpace, both of which I was unable to remove, and ended up formatting their machines. One of those friends claimed that would be the end of MySpace for him.
My MySpace page becomes less used everyday, and I have had a number of thoughts about deleting my own as well.
MySpace by the Numbers
Public traffic reports for MySpace show a nearly one year old trend, reporting MySpace‘s traffic at a constant level with no real fluctuation one way or the other since 2006 when MySpace became insanely popular.
This should speak volumes about where MySpace is at. No increases in traffic can mean a couple of things. It could mean that you are losing members at an even rate that you are gaining them keeping the traffic at a constant rate. It could mean that the same people are returning to MySpace over and over and you are not making significant gains in users keeping the traffic steady.
In either event MySpace’s traffic is teeter-tottering and could lurch in either direction. However given the circumstances that I have spoken about I would put my guess behind a decent sized decline over the next year.
Change is Good
One of the biggest factors leading to the demise of the ultimate teeny bopper’s playground is the inability or unwillingness to change. MySpace has given open reign on code being embedded on pages, something that next to no other social networking sites are doing. The failure of MySpace to protect it’s users from malicious chunks of code is driving users away. No one wants to shell out fifty to one-hundred bucks to have a virus removed.
The horrendous ability of users to be able to override the look of their pages is awful. How many pages have you gone to where you have a blaring red or yellow image then have to attempt to read text over the top of it? Simplicity is beauty and allowing users to create their own monstrosities is a mistake.
Rather then reinventing MySpace as a product that works well, and protects it’s users they have instead elected to patch and attempt to control the wide spread chaos, explaining that it would not be possible to re-release a MySpace application, and again ignoring the issues that MySpace creates further pushing it’s own users and supporters away.
Open Social Networks
In the near future when OpenID takes a firmer hold, open social networks will become reality. The need to use MySpace’s attempt as a Web page will become unnecessary as your friend will travel with you anywhere via your OpenID. Mashups of Social Networking sites will become more common place then the networks themselves further burying MySpace.
With open social networks your friends which are tied to your OpenID will be able to travel freely with you to any site you choose, and interaction between the social networking sites via these mashup sites will provide the ability to correspond with your friends from the safety of a professionally written social networking application.
MySpace is too Popular
I know a lot of people reading this are going to think to themselves “MySpace is too big, has too many users, and cannot be brought down”. I agree, it is a large task but I will leave you with two companies to think about. Maybe MySpace can join the club.
Original URL: http://www.designsbyjohnson.com/index.php?itemid=40
