Sunday, March 27, 2011
Social networking website MySpace lost over ten million users between January and February 2011, according to comScore. In February 2011, the Internet website had less than 63 million users, down from a previous total of approximately 73 million. In the same month, 2.3 million individuals were on the site in the United Kingdom.
In the space of one year, MySpace has also suffered a number of user losses approaching fifty million. Earlier this year, MySpace announced their intentions to eliminate five hundred jobs around the world, which equates to half of its employee total.
| I would be surprised if MySpace survives the year. | ||
MySpace has contributed to the success of British music artists, including Kate Nash, Lily Allen and the Arctic Monkeys. In 2005, News Corporation purchased the social networking site for £330 million (US$529 million, €376 million). Five years ago, the site was proving to be largely popular, according to Newsbeat. Recently, the website has been facing difficult competition from other Internet websites, such as Facebook and YouTube and has now been modified to be more significantly based on the music industry. Newsbeat has reported that the value of MySpace at present may be £50 million (US$80 million, €57 million).
MySpace’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Jones has claimed that the website is “no longer a social network anymore” and that it is currently a “social entertainment destination”. Zack Whittaker, of business technology news website ZDNet, has commented that he “would be surprised if MySpace survives the year”.
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Myspace’s new logo, part of the re-branding of the declining social networking site. Image: Myspace.
The former logo of MySpace. Image: FellowWikiNews.
Tom Anderson, the current president of MySpace, in 2008. Image: Robert Scoble.