How the mighty have fallen. At this time in 2005, Myspace was not only a hot social networking site it was also the site that appeared to wipe Facebook off of the map. Facebook was an exclusionary network then. It required a valid college email and the college had to be in a validated Facebook market. Anyone could join Myspace, it was the not an exclusionary network. Six years later and the country club for college students is thriving and the open public clubhouse seems to be on its last legs.
The media does not even refer to Myspace as a social network anymore. That title seems to have become a secondary title for Facebook. Myspace, meanwhile, has become an entertainment site. In the first month of 2011 it became a trimmed down entertainment site as about 500 people or half of its worldwide staff received pink slips. The move is part of an overhaul that began last October. The layoffs are part of a plan by the parent News Corp company to turn the site profitable again. Company spokes people have said that the cuts will produce a more streamlined and entrepreneurial organization.
The cuts and office closings will save the company as much as $200 million. Previously Myspace lost about 400 jobs in the United States and several hundred overseas.
The once mighty Myspace is in full retreat from its position as a fully functionally social networking site. Myspace has announced that it no longer is in competition with Facebook. There are functions on Myspace that now allow users to log in to their Facebook accounts.
The Myspace business model now seems to center onto selling space directly to advertisers. This turns away from its revenue sharing deal with Google. Even though Myspace is suffering, it still enjoyed 81.5 million visitors last November. It seemly like a lot until compared to the almost 640 million for Facebook.