Update Saturday June 25: What many would call the inevitable demise of Myspace may be greatly exadurated (for now.) A News Corp spokesperson has denied to Newsbizarre the platform's operations would shut June 30 if a buyer for the network could not be found.
News Corp said the below story was "pure fiction" and demanded a retraction.
Despite reports from insiders, Myspace may not shut down June 30, however its hard to see News Corporation continuing to operate the fast declining Myspace if they can't sell the asset.
According to one report in the Telegraph newspaper from London, "MySpace lost $100 million" in the first quarter of 2010 alone.
The following article was posted on Newsbizarre.com Friday June 24:
RIP Myspace 2003-2011?
Myspace, one of the most popular social networking websites in the mid 2000's, is set to "cease operations come June 30," according to reports online from journalists working for The Wall Street Journal.
Its believed owners News Corporation could not find a buyer for the $100 million asking price and will shut down
Myspace for good, despite still attracting over 20 million unique users per month.
Myspace, one of the original social media networks, was the most popular social network online from 2006 to 2008, used by hundreds of millions world wide.
But since those 2000's glory days,
Myspace has been fast perishing, so much so that even the founders of
Myspace Chris
DeWolfe and Tom Anderson have failed to update their own status' on
Myspace for well over a year.
Over the last 2 years
Myspace has lost about one million users a month and the final sword to the heart of
Myspace may be just days away.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp bought
Myspace in 2005 for a costly $600 million, however a $900 advertising deal with Google meant the purchase was not a complete disaster.
The social network used to be a
uber-hip hub of pop culture, page personalisation and a place where thousands of music artists would showcase their work to fans and potential markets.
Depsite its demise,
Myspace was still used widely by teens and young adults keen on
discovering new music trends, and for up and coming artists to network and display their content cheaply.
If the Wall Street Journal report is correct, millions of pictures, song uploads, wall posts and more will be consigned to the dustbins of
Internet history.
Reasons for the demise of
Myspace? Most point the finger at the rise of
Facebook with millions of
Myspace users migrating to the current king of the social media world. Facebook sucks a lot of energy out of Myspace and other parts of the internet, with some 750 million active Facebook users.
Others blame poor management, and several fatal decisions by the leadership at
Myspace for it's demise.
Business Insider: "Mismanagement, a flawed merger, and countless strategic blunders have accelerated
Myspace's fall from being one of the most popular websites on earth—one that promised to redefine music, politics, dating, and pop culture—to an afterthought."
24/7 Wall Street: "Why did
MySpace fall so far behind
Facebook? No one knows for certain. It may be that
Facebook had more attractive features for people who wanted to share their identities online. It may have been that it appealed to a younger audience which tends to spend more time online."
Another explanation
from blogger Robert Scoble: The talk from insiders at
Myspace point to two fatal decisions. One was to base
Myspace HQ in Los Angeles, California, away from the the areas rich in tech human capital like
Silicon Valley and the other was to use Microsoft brand software systems.
Article by
Ryan Northover
Picture: Smiling Rep. Gabrielle Giffords released. Arizona Congresswoman was shot in the head.
