While the news media and tech world clamoured over yesterday's mystery announcement from Facebook, the new Myspace quietly opened up to the public.
In September last year, Justin Timberlake (who has an ownership stake in Myspace) took the wraps off the so-called "New Myspace" by tweeting a link to a preview video, which showed an entirely revamped and rethought service.
The video sparked some renewed interest (and optimism) in the platform, especially given the fact that it demonstrated a social network with a unique design and interface, radically different to existing platforms and even featuring horizontal scrolling. The preview also showed users being able to sign in with their existing social media accounts (such as Facebook or Twitter) and importing content such as photos, videos and playlists (this is something that appears to not be fully functional as yet).
Until now, the site has been open on an invite-only basis, and interested users could sign up to try and get it. On 8 January, Myspace sent out an e-mail to those who had signed up, stating it was "not quite ready to go global yet" and users were told to "keep an eye out for future developments".
This week's public debut of the new Myspace has been timed with the release of Timberlake's latest single "Suit and Tie", featuring Jay-Z. Once a new user has signed in (using Facebook, Twitter, a previous Myspace account, or creating a new account entirely), they are greeted by a large image of Timberlake on the landing page, as well as a music player to play his new song and a link to purchase it on iTunes.
The site remains focused on music discovery and entertainment, and features a built-in music player and streaming service along the bottom of every page. A small menu box remains at the top of the left hand-side, offering options such as "Stream" (filled with the usual social media content such as status updates, photos and music links), "Library" and "People". A "Discover" function (located in the audio-deck at the bottom of the page) brings up a menu for trending music and music-news stories. The design is image-heavy (a cover photo must be at least 1 024x768) and stories appear in Pinterest-like blocks.
First impressions
Myspace is yet to make any official announcement about its launch, but news has spread quickly across the other networks. Some of the comments flying on Twitter include the following:
"Is this the new Myspace or is it an ad for Justin?"
"The new Myspace has a very cool design. This is what iTunes should have been looking like by now!"
"That's it guys. Facebook is dead. Snapchat is dying. Twitter is on the downfall. I'm trying New Myspace. #comeback"
"Still not exactly sure what you can actually do on this new Myspace... it looks like it's heavily oriented for music artists."
"Been playing with the new Myspace. I'm not sure I'd call it a social network - but it's a pretty cool music library."
"Can't believe I'm using these words: The new Myspace design is fantastic!"
"I see the new Myspace is already doomed. They let Nickelback have a 'music' page."
Myspace used to be the most popular social network in the world but was out-paced and overshadowed by the rapid rise of Facebook.
The original social network was sold to online advertising firm, Specific Media, for $35 million in June 2011. This was after Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired the site seven years ago for close to $600 million.
Share