Um, yes you are… you just don’t know it. Well, maybe MySpace does know it’s dead – in fact, it probably knew a long time ago. If anything, its subsequent resurrection as Facebook’s clone is pretty telling that the MySpace team has all but conceded to big blue.
I only seem to think of MySpace when they email (yes, they started emailing me, begging that I log in and check my account). The funny thing is, when I do [Log in], I see a snapshot of my life from 2-3 years ago, the girl I was dating, my ridiculous haircut and of course my first Ferrari. How I miss thee! I think my buddy Andrew refers to MySpace as his time capsule. Funny, but probably more true than anything. All of this, of course, leads me to an interesting question – wait for it…
Could MySpace come back from the dead?
Sounds ridiculous right? Well, perhaps not; given that most of us have a dormant MySpace account most of us still keep active, even if it’s just to check in on our life of yore periodically. The fact is most of us STILL have an account and therefore all MySpace need to do is figure out how to get us to come back. Okay, it’s a big task, but not an impossible one.
Last week I heard MySpace has integrated with the Facebook API, allowing you to update and share info across your social networks. Let’s call this step #1 (of their comeback).
Step #2 appears to be the standardization of profile pages. Yep, you heard me right – MySpace is going the standardization route (see screenshot below). What I believe this does is open the door to something I thought of a year or two ago: At some point YOU will be your own social network and (via universal authentication and standardization) your ‘social network’ won’t care which platform you choose as your home. Not good for Facebook, great for MySpace and other also-rans who are still hanging onto their platform. While unlikely, there is a chance Facebook is at risk of losing their value through the very thing which helped them kill MySpace. The API. Think I’m wrong? Perhaps, but I still remember a time when Google was invinciable.
