Epic Fail: The Fall of Myspace

Back in high school, the question "Are you on Myspace?" was just as common as asking someone sitting in the row next to you, "Can I borrow a pen?"  From freshman through junior year, I logged long hours --probably somewhere around 10-15 a week--on Myspace.  I downloaded supercool! backgrounds and layouts, added music to my profile, spent hours uploading photos, and left comments on friends' profiles almost hourly. 

But by the time senior year rolled around, I started to feel like I had outgrown Myspace.  I got a Facebook account in the fall of 2006 after they had extended membership to high school students.  All my friends that had Myspace were converting to Facebook, almost overnight.  I found myself logging into Myspace less and less and it seemed like everyone else was doing the same.  After I hadn't logged in in over a month, I knew I'd never return to Myspace.  So far, I haven't.

So where did Myspace go wrong?  The biggest problem I had was the increasing amount of spam on Myspace.  My comments were flooded with automated messages by everyone from hackers to aspiring porn stars-no, seriously. On Facebook, the only ads are on the right side of the screen and they're so small and uninvasive, they hardly bother me.  In fact, I've even clicked on a couple because Facebook tailors them to your personal interests.  Other problem areas for Myspace included constant technical glitches, poor online user support, and random stranger friend requests.

For me personally, I simply lost interest in Myspace.  Facebook seemed to offer more and was more user-friendly and interactive. I knew that when I couldn't wait to update my relationship status to 'engaged' that I would be a life-long supporter of Facebook (however long that is in the social media world).  After all, no relationship is legit until it's FBO.  Facebook is a great tool to use for professional networking purposes.  Thousands of brands and companies now have Facebook Fanpages.  If they had a presence on Myspace, I'd probably laugh and take their brand a little less seriously. 

I don't think there's any hope for Myspace to come back.  It seems emo, juvenile, and taboo.  It's just been too long and there's already too many other thriving social media networks out there.  It had a great run, but I'd definitely say it's time for Tom to pack up his things and go home.

Interesting Articles: "Myspace is Dead: The Internet is Growing Up" and "Is Myspace Over?"