Dissecting the MySpace Juggernaut
It’s difficult to look at the website and really pin down any one thing that caused it to, almost out of nowhere, grow into arguably the most dominant force on the Internet. Look at this list of social networking websites, and tell me exactly how MySpace was so different. With growth in so many different directions, from personal profiles to band profiles to videos to search etc., and at a rate that has been unmatched. Consider this for just a moment. The largestÂ? three InternetÂ? companies in the world are billion dollar companies: Google, Yahoo!, and MSN/Live. In around two years, MySpace has gone from almost nothing to competing with these companies that have all been established for several years. Assuming the company was worth nothing two years ago and is worth $1 billion dollars today, the company would have increased in value by over $1.3 million dollars per day over those two years. So how did MySpace do it?
Having become heavily involved in the industry shortly before MySpace came to be in existence, it was fairly obviousÂ? the users were ready for something to move into the social networking arena and really dominate. Classmates was probablyÂ? the first social networking website, starting in 1995,Â? and holds strong at forty millions users,Â? but there is a certain limit toÂ? theÂ? website based on its name alone. There are several different websites that reached a respectable size, like Hi5.com and Friendster.com. Jonathan Abrams founded Friendster inÂ? 2002 and ‘was considered the top online social network service until around April 2004 when it was overtaken by MySpace in terms of page views, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.‘
Starting in July 2003, it took MySpaceÂ? less than ten months to make it to the top of the category, and the growth didn’t stop there (as shown in the table to the left).Â? But, all these sites are the same, aren’t they? There are obviously several factors that lead toÂ? the website achieving what it did.
First, one can never ignore the effect thatÂ? luck and timing play with every venture. It’s not coincidence that the second wave of the web, which coincided with the increase in popularity of user generated content, hasÂ? matched up with the rise of MySpace. If the website had been released a little bit earlier, there’s a good possibility that the momentum would not have been sustained or the typical usersÂ? might not have been able to or have beenÂ? interested in creating a profile. If it had been released later, there’s almost no reason to assume that another website might have already filled the void. Despite the fact that luck and timing were in favour of MySpace, this alone didn’t create the growth of the website.
One of the aspects people enjoyed about MySpace was the freedom to make their profile truly unique and their own, with images, colours, and a variety of different add-ons. LiveJournal had similar freedom to create on their profiles, but the website was specifically catering to bloggers.Â? A problem MySpace faced with this was letting users achieve the look and feel that they wanted in a simple and easy to use way. The average user would never be able to code that themselves. But, sites were popping up everywhere with MySpace templates. Again, an example of luck and timing of these third party sites that allowed users to get more out of the website. Any user could have the freedom to create with a simple Google search. FromÂ? a Hitwise blog post: ‘[The] information [below]Â? demonstrates not only the sheer size of MySpace, through its ability to impact an entire category.‘ It’s definitely not coincidence that the sites most visited by MySpace users in the category of Web Development are also the sites most visited in general for that same category.
So, MySpace came into a well-established arena, came at the right time, gave the users what they wanted (the freedom to create), and the ability to actually achieve that look and feel, albeit through third party websites. These factors alone might have been enough to do good things, but despite all that, there is still one aspect of the site that, probably above all else, lead to the dominance on the Internet that MySpace is now known for. By choosing a very specific niche that everyone in the world can appreciate, use, and relate to, MySpace found a way to become the juggernaut that it is today. Music. Yes, music, and the angle of the site that was created by targetting bands is probably the number one reason for the success MySpace has had.
This point can obviously be argued, but this simple story is all I need to convince myself. A co-worker from a part-time job was absolutely anti-computer, even to the point that there was no reason to have an email address. The individual loved music, had some buddies that were just as into music as he was, and they were looking at putting together a band and making a go of it. Out of nowhere, he mentions this site, MySpace, which of course was familiar, and how he had joined the site. Didn’t really have an email address. Didn’t really understand or appreciate computers and the Internet. And yet, for some reason, this individual was a member of MySpace as something he saw as important to music, his music, and his band.
For a band starting out, the Internet provides a constant, cost-effective way to market itself and it’s music. With the increase in popularity of downloading music, the increase inÂ? broadband users (again, luck and timing), providing songs online for download made more sense. With the site catering to the music industry, bands created profiles. With a large enough pool of bands, there became value for users to browse these bands. The whole thing becomes a positive feedback loop. As more users joined, it made more sense for bands to have their profile on the site. With more bands, more users wanted to browse the bands. With more users there,Â? there’s more value for those less interested in music specifically to join anyway. The cycle continues and creates the snowball effect and builds momentum. But this is only still a piece of the puzzle.
As the site gained momentum, radio stations across North America started plugging MySpace. With the growth in full swing, coupled with the added attention from radio stations all over the continent, MySpace was a lock for glory. Even to the point where net-neophytes jumped on the bandwagon.
Of course, all these points can be argued. There are obviously aspects of the ‘juggernaut’ that were missed or chosen to be excluded. But overall, timing, luck, and a specific, universal niche that allowed for a plethora free advertising allowed MySpace to become a billion dollar company. With today’s announcement of the $900 million deal with Google, an amount that almost doubles what News paid to purchase the site, MySpace continues to show that it was a great deal and can generate revenue. With over forty million uniques in March of this year, MySpace isn’t slowing down, and with new features like MySpace video being added,Â? all that’s left to see is what’s next.