A summary of MySpace’s redesigned hp:
Less Clutter. More Advertising.

Hmm. Is there a paradox in there somewhere? It’s been said that the redesign addresses a nagging problem that beleaguers social networking sites: pages have “the aesthetic appeal of the locker door of a 14-year-old high schooler.” Which led me to imagine the site as the voice of a 14-year-old whining to its parent, Fox Interactive Media.

“Why can’t I be pretty like X website?”
“I want to make money like the other websites.”
“Can I have a new navigation bar? A search tool? A video player? I need these in time for school to start this fall.”

And like a lenient parent, Fox ignored the fact that the kid hasn’t been making the grade—more than one year into its $900 million contract with MySpace, Google said that it was not earning as much as expected, the site missed its revenue target, its sales force was rearranged, and the unit’s chief revenue officer was kicked out. Yet, MySpace is saying, “We’re seeing the dollars come in.”

This is an example of why questions exist about the ad value of social networks. When similar questions were raised in 2006, Fox brushed it aside, saying MySpace was more concerned about serving users than making money. Two years later, they are more concerned with making money. Also in 2006, not even Google was sure that it could provide enough ads to fill all the pages. However, recently Google said the situation had improved. Perhaps this is the reason for MySpace to be blithely optimistic?

Like the teen that wants to do what the adults do but hasn’t proved to be responsible yet, social networking sites have money-making ambitions but not enough proof that their plans work.

One analyst said, “We don’t have much conviction in the long-term ability to grow this business based on what we’ve seen lately. The jury’s still out on MySpace’s ability to monetize.” ….That is, if users don’t get “monotonized” by ads first.

Sources:
International Herald Tribune
MySpace Redesigns With Ad Sales in Mind Social Network Profit Remains a Riddle

Christine Babick is a marketing strategist and linguist specializing in marketing language, website text, “emo copy,” and cause and relationship marketing. More…

Article Tags: Advertising | Babick | brand | Google | marketing | media | MySpace | Social
Filed under: Advertising, Design, Industry News, Social Media Marketing