Post 11: The Death of MySpace and Development of the Social Network

Hey, anyone remember Myspace? Yeah, me neither. I think in terms of popular use today, Myspace is officially deceased. It's surprising to me because before Facebook, it was the premier social networking site. Now, it's a shadow of its former self. They've sort of "sold out" now - the site is now for "social entertainment." When I went to their website for the first time in a few years, the home page was covered in promotional videos and events for bands, particularly ones that are not well-known. Also on the page are movie trailers, humor videos, and promotional contests. No wonder no one uses it anymore. I think they have "sold out" because they are not centered around the freedom they had when they started. Myspace was the only place where you could create a profile and fill it with your interests (layouts, apps, music, posts, all right on your page). Now, it's just a media advertisement site disguised as social networking. Sure, you may be able to have a profile and communicate with others, but it's all focused on the groups that Myspace wants to promote.

It really makes sense that Myspace bit the dust this decade. With the introduction of the Apple company and its avante garde products, modern society has been fixated on aesthetic simplicity - Zen Buddhism mixed with above-the-bar technology. Myspace was anything but that. Everything was very cluttered; the greater degree of freedom gave people the freedom to mess up their pages. It was also more suited to meeting new people, when what our society needed was something to bring together everyone we already know. Facebook brought visual simplicity, as well as the simplicity to communicate with people. Part of a new generation of technology, Facebook has integrated itself into the axis of internet power, which includes Google, YouTube, Twitter, PayPal, Tumblr, etc. (all of which embrace the simple aesthetic design. Sure, go onto Myspace now and you'll see a very harmonic display of images, but they fell behind and were easily replaced by Facebook, the new generation of social networking.

In reality, though, all social networking sites appeal to the same things. They know that emotionally, we want to have that instantaneous connection to others; if we do not, we can feel alone. They focus on the Need for Affiliation (the network), the Need for Prominence (the "friend count"), the Need for Attention (the personal page), and the elusive Need for Aesthetic Sensations (the social network site is simplistic programing at its best; we understand the beauty of the site, and want to be a part of it). The biggest technique they use to reel you in is repetition. To gain notoriety, these sites weasel their way into every corner of the web, until you can tie back every page you visit to Facebook, Blogger, or Digg (I still have no idea what Digg is). It's such a shame. Well, I'm signing off now, so I'll probably watch some YouTube videos and link my blog to Facebook. Thank goodness for the simple designs.