MySpace eyes return: Why the Y2K-era social network wants back in | Technology News

“We still own MySpace. We are stewards of the MySpace brand at this point, and we are going to relaunch MySpace. We’re just waiting for the right time to do it. And if that one doesn’t work, we’ll do it again,” the Vanderhooks reportedly said in the documentary. However, they did not elaborate on details such as a clear timeline for its rollout.

Additionally, the relaunch of MySpace comes after a previous failed attempt in 2013. Once the dominant player, MySpace would be returning to a crowded market shaped by algorithm-driven feeds and shrinking attention spans. Simply put, social media has undergone several fundamental shifts and become a far more complicated space to operate in since MySpace’s peak run between 2005 and 2008.

The dominant players of social media today are Meta’s Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, and Reddit, among others. However, these platforms are also grappling with a wave of legal backlash as well as growing digital fatigue. MySpace’s potential return also comes at a time when several countries have imposed or are looking to take drastic measures such as bans to address concerns about social media addiction among teenagers.

What is MySpace?

For Gen Z, it belongs to a bygone era of social media they never experienced firsthand, but its Millennial users will likely remember the blue and orange glow of MySpace.

Founded in 2003 by Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe, MySpace was the most used social networking site from 2005 and 2008. In 2006, the platform even surpassed Google as the most visited site in the US, according to a report by BBC.

The platform had a quirky interface and offered customisable profiles as well as other features that allowed users to select a song that would automatically play on their profile or embed content from YouTube, which had just launched in 2005. When users signed up on MySpace, ‘Tom’ was their first, default friend.

By 2008, MySpace had amassed more than 115 million visitors a month. But its dominance was short-lived, as Facebook quickly overtook it. In response to the emergence of Facebook, the Vanderhook brothers reportedly attempted to modernise the platform by revamping the site. But the platform struggled to maintain its lead as it continued to lose advertisers to Facebook.

“It just became an onslaught of losses,” Tim Vanderhook is quoted as saying in the documentary. “We lost a little over $150 million,” Chris Vanderhook added.

Can MySpace make a comeback this time?

At first glance, it seems unlikely that MySpace could make a successful comeback by taking on social media giants such as Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. However, experts have pointed out a recent trend of users feeling nostalgic for a more analog time, when algorithms were less dominant in their lives.

This trend is reflected in the growing number of apps that have been designed to help users tackle social media addiction. In June this year, Google Labs, the tech giant’s platform for early-stage AI experiments and prototypes, unveiled a new app called Dreambeans that shows users a curated list of personalised, AI-illustrated ‘stories’ about their daily lives.

The app has been built to help users reduce doomscrolling, which is why it only shows around 10 to 14 personalised stories every day.

Another such newly launched app is Mivo Scrolling. It is described as a mindful screen time app that helps users keep track of their screen times and usage patterns while providing additional insights into their daily habits.

This new wave of apps looking to help people avoid losing hours to endless social media feeds, indicates that MySpace could find some success if it appeals to the right demographic. However, its potential comeback could also rely on key factors such as attracting advertisers and navigating a thorny regulatory environment.