Will 'MySpace Mail' be a tool for bands?
So, according to PaidContent, MySpace is about to upgrade its messaging service to full-out Web mail: so that instead of only being able to communicate with other MySpace members, users will have an @myspace.com e-mail address. This will start rolling out on Thursday, apparently, with the new service available to all MySpace members by the end of the year.
This seems a little odd at first, considering we recently heard that the troubled MySpace was more or less giving up on trying to compete with Facebook, and was attempting to rebrand as an "entertainment portal." Launching a new tech-related product doesn't seem to fit into that, unless you consider that (according to PaidContent) this has been in development since before the management shakeup that saw Owen Van Natta replacing Chris DeWolfe as MySpace CEO, and brought in former AOL exec Jon Miller as the head of parent company News Corp.'s digital operations.
But here's a thought: I wonder how much the focus of "MySpace Mail" will be geared toward bands and artists who want a better way to manage and communicate with their fan bases. Enhanced messaging could make it possible for music acts, who were what made MySpace popular in the first place and are undoubtedly a big part of its new entertainment-centric strategy, to use MySpace to communicate with fans who might not be using MySpace.
For ordinary users, meanwhile, e-mail addresses could help pull the MySpace brand off its domain and give it more reach--much like the MySpace ID universal log-in product, which hasn't really rolled out yet (and which may have had large-scale success quashed by the ubiquity of Facebook Connect). And while revamping its messaging system might not bring in many new users for MySpace, it could help stall potential attrition.
MySpace has allowed its users to reserve "vanity URLs" for their profiles for years now--something that Facebook only started doing this summer.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
BUT Facebook is taking the direction...
You must be a minor.
maybe if rarely ever I might even use pure volume to see what an artist has or project playlist if I'm searching for something.
Myspace may have a lot of music, but I don't really use it.
If I know I already have the song on my computer, I might play it from my computer, but usually I'm lazy and play music online in a firefox tab.
BUT myspace has the 18 to 24 year old crowd on lock, and im apart of that crowd, i enjoy myspace way more than facebook, facebook warns u if u send too many messages too quick or too many comments (if u continue to do so u get blocked from the site for weeks)...how are u suppose to run a group or a fan page with that goin on?!!? & alot of the apps freeze up and dont work no matter what PC im on...... plus the homepage is a direct ripoff of twitter....which i also think is better than facebook.........
last i checked comscore, myspace and facebook were neck and neck at right around 72 mil unique monthly visitors in the U.S......to me, that says alot......
I do use Twitter, but only for posting status updates, which also get posted (automatically) as status updates on my Facebook profile. But there's a difference between Twitter and the Facebook home feed. Twitter is public, and also has a great SMS component. In fact, it started as SMS-only. Twitter has a 140-character message limit, which explicitly defines how you write. I like both Twitter and Facebook, but for different reasons.
I'm a very big fan of Facebook because originally it was limited to specific college students making it exclusive, but as it opened up to the public everything began to mirror Myspace.
I had a Myspace as well, which used to be "the networking site" and was overrun by 13 year olds. Now Myspace is still a very strong place for musicians and comedians and hook ups. Facebook is more serious, but myspace is still useful.
But that is not the topic of this article- which is dumb. Myspace doesn't need to start creating new and exciting things to keep itself going, it needs to refine what it already has: a large musical following. Work on those parts of the site, dont try to one up Facebook.
I made this vid as an example of the benefits of myspace: http://screenjel.ly/7zd-5-3KpPA
Hope my opinion was interesting, at the least
- by Atomic1fire August 1, 2009 12:39 AM PDT
- I don't really use myspace, for two reasons,
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(12 Comments)the profile skinning and the display names (I only got a facebook address because I thought it was a good idea, not because I felt like inserting something stupid next to the address
its in my opinion that most display names are not even user names just sentences people throw in for the heck of it.
I just use my first and last name for a facebook address.
myspace is 99 percent glitter and people overdoing a design from some website.
facebook may have stupid apps, but there is such a thing as courtesy in that regard, if I use an app, I generally don't announce it unless others have announcd it, and that all depends on if I feel like telling everyone what facebook app I just used, and rarely do I ever notify people of what app I just use, I usually just click skip.