Friendster Falls, Myspace Rises

I read an interesting article that outlines the definition and history of multiple social networking websites that we all know and love. What sparked my interest is how Friendster's marketing choices led to the rise of Myspace. And, more importantly, how self-interest motivated users of Friendster to move into the free and personal world of Myspace. One of the main ways Myspace evolved was through music communities that formed between indie artists and their fans who rapidly found the interests of other fans very much aligned with their own. Essentially, Myspace cater toward users economic self-interest and thus a community began to develop. But before I go into detail, I want to explain the basis for how Myspace was able to be successful.

In 2003, Myspace was launched to compete with Friendster, Xanga, and AsianAvenue. Myspace sought to fulfill the interests of Friendster users by marketing their site as a free tool rather than a fee-based system which is what Friendster was adopting. Another key factor in the move from Friendster to Myspace was the ability to customize one's personal profile. By targeting the interests of the Friendster users by creating a free and fully customizable social networking site, the rapid shift from Friendster to Myspace commenced. What happened here was that the users of Friendster were actually posting messages on where to find cheaper, better sites such as Myspace. Again a direct catering to economic self-interest. What intrigues me is that the indie music sub population that was expelled from Friendster for not complying with the site's policies jump-started Myspace completely, along with the connections between fans based on similar interest.

The indie bands and their fans was a symbiotic relationship that Myspace did not really see coming but opened its arms to as soon as the Myspace population started growing. Local bands around the Los Angeles area (near Santa Monica, CA where Myspace was founded) sought out the economic opportunity of creating fan bases using this new hot and free social networking site. Not only would local fans follow this lead, thousands of other bands and ten of thousands of fans fueled the Myspace fire. The bands and fans dynamic is one that is mutually beneficial, each group having its own interests in mind and as a result creating a community that benefits from these self-interests. Bands could connect to fans and fans could become "Friends" with the bands to feel more connected to them. As this dynamic developed, it also allowed fans to discuss their favorite bands with each other, again highlighting how important this band-fan relationship was for the development of Myspace. But without this dynamic would Myspace even exist today? Surely there can be money poured into the site, but I would think not. The fundamental principle that Myspace is built on is it ability to accommodate the interests of its users and in doing so it creates a symbiotic community that mutually benefits. To be more specific, Myspace also brought in constant change and a diverse set of tools for its users to fulfill their needs--"features".

Myspace also constantly updated its site with new "features" such as the "Myspace Blog". I actually ran a quick search on Google to see how the impact these "features" had on the shift from Friendster to Myspace and guess what popped up? Five different links to Myspace Blogs talking about how much better they liked Myspace.

This of course is the result Myspace wants to see, and the method of using a "me" type interface allowed it to be successful. Also, it success was determined on a few other key factors. One, by becoming a free site, Myspace generated thousands of users that were already using Friendster--the catering to the economic self-interest. Two, band-fan dynamic was a symbiotic relationship that proved how Myspace's catering to its user's self-interest creates a mutually beneficial environment. Third, Myspace constantly created "features" to allow its users to fulfill their interests and needs, which in turn helped everyone as users shared ideas on "Myspace Blog". So Myspace's success was largely drawn from the catering to self-interest, and specifically economic self-interest as the site became free.