I wouldn't be surprised to see Myspace die in the near future unless they start acting smart. Improve interactions!!! Let's be real, the reason why Facebook established itself as a powerhouse is due to its unlimited photo uploads and the ability to tag friends in these pictures. Facebook is proactive, Myspace is reactive. Oh! Facebook has unlimited photo uploads, let's do that too! Let's also do tagging. Too late.
Myspace still has an advantage. It has a good hold on the artistic/creative scene on the internet. Myspace needs to capitalize on it and for the love of my eyes, do something about backgrounds. It is nice to allow artistic expression but that doesn't mean that everybody can be artistic. If a member's page is unreadable because it has the band's group picture at the back and the font is black, nobody will want to come back to the page often. That is not good for the band and not good for Myspace.
The only way Myspace can prosper is by leveraging its community. They are artistic, they are bands, give them tools to help promote their band, give the community's tool to connect and increase interaction. Myspace is a junk social network filled with self promoting spammers. Appropriate that community, give them tool to turn your social network where people will turn towards to learn more about artists and bands and their new shows. The reality is that most Myspace friends are just part of a collection of strangers. Well if that is the case, help strangers meet, help strangers interact!
- Suggest "friends" to me because they are a great Hip-Hop band or an up and coming soul band and you, Myspace, know that from me because of the data in my profile, my listed interest, the profile of my friends, etc.
- Allow members to rate songs or bands or any art work.
- Allow friends to share songs with other friends.
- Leverage your video platform, you have a great one (especially compared to Facebook) leverage it, make it easier to share within the community and to share outside of the community.
- Promote the fact that it can be shared in different ways.
- Encourage your members to upload videos.
- Inform them that it is a great way for their garage band to gain exposure.
By the way, your news feed sucks. Stop trying to copy Facebook. Make your own news feed.
Survival of the fittest - Adapt or die. Plain and simple.
