They say change is the only thing that is constant. While year 2009 has been fabulous for Facebook as it became the leading social network worldwide, MySpace has struggled to sustain its strong position that it enjoyed last year. The US market has embraced Facebook and distanced from MySpace ever since the former gained acceptance and adulation from the global social networking audience.
The Mark Zuckerberg-owned company grabbed a 59% market share in US according to online research firm Hitwise. On the contrary, MySpace managed to grab only 30% of the visits in September this year. If you still think that 30% is not bad, you are bound to get shocked after comparing MySpace’s performance during the same period last year. Read the rest of this entry »
Collaboration is the need of the hour to grow and sustain, and MySpace is doing exactly that. The social networking site has partnered with telecom major Vodafone to launch The Music Studio – an eight month campaign targeted towards music aficionados. The strategic partnership is a result of Vodafone’s ambition to strengthen its connection with the music industry and MySpace’s aim to enhance the experience of its users.
News about MySpace pruning a third of its workforce has spread like fire over the Web. The News Corp. owned social networking site is handing over pink slips to 400 people in a bid to restructure the company and revive innovation. The growing competition from Facebook and other rivals clearly seems to be getting on MySpace – the once leading social networking site in US – now dethroned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook.
Hoping to build its brand in the Indian social networking market, MySpace is geared up to take the offline route by launching ‘Secret Shows’ in India – a platform for upcoming talented musicians. It will also roll out a music portal called ‘Music Central’ that will stream music content from regional and independent artists together with Bollywood music.
One of the major reasons why MySpace is losing competition to Facebook is its inability to win the hearts of the overseas audience. No doubt it is still the leading social networking site in the US today, but when it comes to the global market share, it is Facebook that enjoys a dominant position. Moreover, the latter is also getting closer and closer to MySpace and can overtake it anytime now to achieve the first position in the US market.
With citizen journalism becoming a popular activity over Web (thanks to social media), MySpace invited its users to be a part of the activity by becoming volunteer ‘uReporters’. All that the users would need to do is supply news, images or videos that can be used at MySpace and Fox News Channel, a subsidiary of News Corp.
Finding local business directories just got easier! Social network MySpace is localizing with small-business directories that features content generated by users. To get started, it has collaborated with Citysearch to introduce MySpace Local in private beta, which will provide several benefits to MySpace users based in the US.
To strengthen its position in the mobile social networking space, MySpace plans to strike deals with handset majors Nokia and Palm, making it the first ever social network to support all the major smart phones. Other than these mobile firms, MySpace applications are also supported across BlackBerry, iPhone, Sidekick and Google Android.
When you want to connect with your customers, provide them an opportunity to benefit from you. This tactic is smartly played by MySpace, especially when it comes to luring users during the release time of new movies.