Let’s just be blunt. No one feels bad for Myspace. It made its money, it had its run, its owners cashed out.
So when Myspace unveiled its new look, no one really noticed or cared.
Why? Because Myspace became a place for advertisers and not a place for adolescents to connect and share. It was the underground, the secret power that elevated no named bands into the consciousness of throbbing crowds. But then it became about the underground. And then the underground became mainstream. And no one cares now because Myspace is top-down mainstream trying to market to teenagers.
Teenagers are savvy. They know when they are being marketed to. They know the difference between a start-up with no money and News Corp pumping millions into a dead brand for the sake of squeezing a few more million dollars out of it.
It would have been better to just put it out to pasture.
This is why corporations are horrible social media engines and start-ups are fantastic.
To a start-up, it’s about the dream of maybe making it big. To a major company, it’s about making enough money to keep your shareholders happy so you can do it one more business cycle.
