Tom wants you back

September 24, 2012 3:25 PM

At first glance, the new Myspace is an undeniably beautiful redesign.
posted by Potomac Avenue (71 comments total)

For those that don't remember: MySpace is the olden days version of Facebook.
posted by Artw at 3:29 PM on September 24, 2012 [8 favorites]

Speaking of old social media, friendster is now a decade old!
posted by couchdive at 3:32 PM on September 24, 2012

MySpace was always really good for discovering little-known musicians and bands. Hopefully this redesign will keep this aspect of the old MySpace intact. Facebook is rather crap in that respect.
posted by idiomatika at 3:32 PM on September 24, 2012 [5 favorites]

Obviously FB's lunch is sitting out there, steaming, to be eaten by whoever can figure the privacy stuff as well as #3 right before #4: Profit!
posted by chavenet at 3:34 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

Then it's not really myspace anymore, is it?
posted by ryanrs at 3:34 PM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

I really like that song in the redesign video. Anyone know what that is?
posted by nooneyouknow at 3:35 PM on September 24, 2012

Looks a lot like tumblr. Which is fine, because tumblr is nice looking. But the thing is we already have one.
posted by penduluum at 3:35 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

They waited too long to exploit their music discovery niche though, now there's bandcamp. Though bandcamp still doesn't do social well. We'll see!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:35 PM on September 24, 2012

I was never a myspace user...compared to fb, how were they at privacy and other user-focused features? I know their design used to be a nightmare.
posted by maxwelton at 3:35 PM on September 24, 2012

It does look pretty sweet - Pinterest out of Zune. On the other hand, I have a sort of instinctual nervousness about a social network owned explicitly by an advertising and data mining company. Although I realise that that is basically what Facebook is...

(Also, in my many novel-length Justin Timberlake fanfics, he is a passionate advocate of individual privacy rights.)
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:38 PM on September 24, 2012 [7 favorites]

The best bit of old MySpace was trying to write CSS for it, and you'd have to do selectors like "table tr td font strong", which would be totally different from "table tr td strong" which would be halfway across the page. I only played with that for about an afternoon but there's people who sunk HOURS into it.

I guess that's all gone now, like tears in the rain.
posted by Artw at 3:39 PM on September 24, 2012 [14 favorites]

Solution in search of a problem.
posted by nickrussell at 3:39 PM on September 24, 2012

If I'm interpreting the venturebeat article correctly, New Corp bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005, and then sold it in 2010 for $35 million.

That's as good a reason as any to sign up.

But yeah, I'd imagine they just bought the rights to the name and not the user list or any of those pesky little details. Probably a decent idea considering how poorly the previous users took care of the thing when they had it.
posted by Blue_Villain at 3:39 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

I disagree about the beautiful design. Based on the image on The Verge, I am seeing a lot of things in no real order.

This concept of "myspace" confuses and infuriates us!
posted by subbes at 3:39 PM on September 24, 2012

Oh cool, now I can revive my food rapper persona, MC Suppertime. I think most of friends still have no idea who that weirdo was that told implausible stories about eating contests in Outer Mongolia (there is a rich vein of comment fable material to mine in the Indiana Jones mythology). That's what MySpace was for right? That and gif based psychedelia.
posted by Divine_Wino at 3:39 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've never used Myspace but as a code monkey and business wank I'm really rooting for them. Great things can happen when you put product and customers above everything else. Maybe this will transform Myspace into the social network that came back to the game to hit a home run.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:40 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

compared to fb, how were they at privacy

Myspace bore little resemblance to the Facebook of today. Myspace was terrible at getting you to add any information beyond simple status updates. It was also equally terrible at distributing that information to anyone else. So they were pretty great with privacy due to having nothing of value worth violating.
posted by the jam at 3:43 PM on September 24, 2012 [7 favorites]

I guess that's all gone now, like tears in the rain.

I'd compare it more to being flushed down the toilet but to each their own.
posted by Talez at 3:47 PM on September 24, 2012 [3 favorites]

I liked myspace when it was a thing. It basically required you to pick your favorite song of the moment and to personally identify with music you liked. It was also of the bygone Internet era when you could ostensibly just let it all hang out and only people that were hip to your scene would interact with you; Grandma was never on myspace.
posted by dobie at 3:49 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

On the other hand, I have a sort of instinctual nervousness about a social network owned explicitly by an advertising and data mining company. Although I realise that that is basically what Facebook is...

As well as Google/G+.

It's certainly a bold move for Specific Media to make.

The music discovery and playback looked intriguing. Spotify+Grooveshark tacked onto a Photos+Video social pinboard.

Alas, I'm too far out of the demographic, probably.
posted by notyou at 3:51 PM on September 24, 2012

I remember when Friendster came out, and my friends and I thought we were hot shit because we had a few dozen friends on our account.
posted by empath at 3:52 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, it's "metro", uh - I mean "modern"...
posted by jkaczor at 3:53 PM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

The big thing that was lost when MySpace went away was the customization. Not much currently popular social media allows you to edit the source of your page. Layout's always prefab. Facebook generally offered a better experience, but it was the experience Facebook wanted you to have. It looks like MySpace is trying to capitalize on that rather than the old free-for-all feeling, so I'm not sure what it has to offer. I'd certainly love to see a platform catch on that was more self-expressive.
posted by Peevish at 3:53 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

The song is Heartbeat by JJAMZ. The video is awesome.
posted by roger ackroyd at 3:54 PM on September 24, 2012 [6 favorites]

It's interesting that so many people remember MySpace for the music. The MySpace I remember was before music and apps were a thing.

Back then it was pretty much pictures and status updates, and mostly college students. "Old people" (who were then what my age is today) didn't join this revolution until Facebook.
posted by Blue_Villain at 3:56 PM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

Join my Orkut group.
posted by roger ackroyd at 3:57 PM on September 24, 2012 [6 favorites]

I worked at Fox when they acquired MySpace. I wish I had saved the email all employees got from Rupert Murdoch urging us to join that exciting new site.
posted by roger ackroyd at 4:00 PM on September 24, 2012 [4 favorites]

That's what MySpace was for right? That and gif based psychedelia.

I mean if that's the same thing as "giving your friends seizures and forcing them to listen to that insufferable hamster dance song on repeat" then yes, in my experience (back in high school) that's exactly what Myspace was for.
posted by sendai sleep master at 4:03 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

(Incidentally, I'm getting a lot out of This Is My Jam as a music discovery place. It has very, very limited social elements - you can like someone else's jam, rejam it as your new jam and follow people, and that's basically it. Also, it has a satisfyingly findable, big, red DELETE MY PROFILE button.

Which is nice.)
posted by running order squabble fest at 4:04 PM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

Now, you sign into Myspace by OAUTHing into either Facebook or Twitter. Things have changed, haven't they?
posted by Apropos of Something at 4:05 PM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also, and I say this without exploring further than the video in the FPP, it looks as though the design was created with phones and tablets in mind which, frankly, seems quite a smart little way to differentiate a product in what is slowly becoming a packed field.
posted by sendai sleep master at 4:11 PM on September 24, 2012

I have literally no idea what I am doing when I log in. None.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 4:14 PM on September 24, 2012 [3 favorites]

No, sorry, its not.
posted by sfts2 at 4:14 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

Some businesses need to know when to call it quits.

_{*cough*Yahoo*cough*}
posted by Malice at 4:16 PM on September 24, 2012

YUI is apparently pretty good these days.
posted by Artw at 4:19 PM on September 24, 2012

but as a code monkey and business wank

I think you mean wonk.
posted by Mcable at 4:21 PM on September 24, 2012

Business wank: all business all the time.
posted by Artw at 4:24 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

MySpace was always really good for discovering little-known musicians and bands. Hopefully this redesign will keep this aspect of the old MySpace intact.

They were good until they started locking down their music app. Probably for piracy concerns or something. I got a lot of really niche music (e.g. Wizard Rock) off of them while it lasted.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 4:31 PM on September 24, 2012

Ugh; all that dead space, the big tiles for things you don't necessarily want to look at, the limited items per screen and constant need to reorient every time you move a menu...

It's clear that they're hitching their wagon to Microsoft's latest user interface design language. Trouble is, Metro and its ilk are about the least practical interfaces since Bob.* The prioritization of screen-space is all out of whack. Sure, it looks all future-y, but there's a reason that we don't use computers like the ones we see in movies, with the big text and flashy transitions: those are meant to be easy for an audience to follow what's happening in the roughest of senses, not actually possible to use.

This whole "big wall 'o tiles" thing is like stage makeup for your computer: looks great under the lights, but there's no way you'd want to use it every day.

* And I should know; I used the shit out of Bob. Back when I was eight. Mostly as a construction toy.
posted by fifthrider at 4:34 PM on September 24, 2012 [3 favorites]

It's like:
$ pinterest | win8 | ping > profit.txt
posted by mrnutty at 4:36 PM on September 24, 2012 [9 favorites]

MySpace was always really good for discovering little-known musicians and bands.

Some of you who've been around Mefi for awhile may remember that I used to make mega-posts full of stuff from MySpace Music. Cambodian singers, blues, etc. etc. It was indeed a good source for learning about all kinds of music. Maybe it'll kinda come back now, with the new design. I wouldn't mind. Facebook has some problems when it comes to music.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:37 PM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

This whole "big wall 'o tiles" thing is like stage makeup for your computer: looks great under the lights, but there's no way you'd want to use it every day.

Exactly right.
posted by davebush at 4:40 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

>It's like:
>$ pinterest | win8 | ping > profit.txt

Doesn't bode too well, of course, that Ping is now already so dead that Apple's taken down the page announcing its death.
posted by fifthrider at 4:40 PM on September 24, 2012

MySpace has done its pennance and is allowed to be cool again. That video made me want to move to LA.
posted by Burhanistan at 4:40 PM on September 24, 2012

It reminds me a lot of Flipboard, which works great on tablets. I wonder if that might be what they were going for.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 4:56 PM on September 24, 2012

Really, if somebody would roll out Facebook circa 2009 or so, I'd skip on over to that.

With a better search feature.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:56 PM on September 24, 2012

On the other side of the fence...
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:09 PM on September 24, 2012

I guess that's all gone now, like tears in the rain

But this one's different. A new Incept Date but with memories of old Myspace implanted. Does not know what it is - or could be - yet.
posted by helmutdog at 5:12 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

I really like that song in the redesign video. Anyone know what that is?
JJAMZ
posted by unliteral at 5:41 PM on September 24, 2012

Join my Orkut group.

Now I miss Orkut.
posted by ovvl at 5:44 PM on September 24, 2012

There is some talk that yahoo is going to introduce a pintrest like front page.

So far Mayer got rid of some security turnstiles. Made the food free. And introduced an "if you have any ideas at all shoot me an email, cuz we need them" policy. She really shook things up over there.
posted by Ad hominem at 5:51 PM on September 24, 2012

I totally want Facebook to fail and My Space to once again rule the internets. I'd also like to see Tom do a big poo on Mark Zuckenburger's head in public.
posted by Monkeymoo at 6:21 PM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

Best of luck to all of my old co-workers who are still there. I know they've been working their asses off.
posted by flaterik at 6:57 PM on September 24, 2012

It looks like sanitized, side-ways Facebook. Legacy MySpace was kind of like Times Square before the '90's - always entertaining on a certain level, but you never knew what/who you were going to run into. I had some friends who were seriously into MySpace back in the day and I couldn't keep up. Now I limp along a little on FB, but I run quarterly stealth campaigns to lure my smart friends onto Google+, which is where I like to hide from my family and coworkers. On Google+, I don't have to talk about kids and school bus routes and coupons.
posted by PuppyCat at 6:59 PM on September 24, 2012 [3 favorites]

Soooo...I'm not seeing the part where I can customize my profile colors to be ultra-angsty. Where's the ANGST??
posted by limeonaire at 7:39 PM on September 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

I run quarterly stealth campaigns to lure my smart friends onto Google+

Google+ is pretty lame. Google seemed to be totally unable to capitalize on the lack of dislike of facebook, and a lot of their marketing for G+ seems to be geared toward celebrities and people looking to sell stuff. So much social media promotion seems to be about celebrities promoting crap these days. You often hear about various celebrities discussing their twitter/facebook/pintrest/whatever. But really, wants just another avenue to 'consume' the vapid nattering of random famous people?

Facebook's algorithms seem to do an OK job of figuring out who's posts you actually give a crap about at this point, supposedly they filter out like 90% of the 'new' feeds now by default.

I hardly ever use the site, but I do usually find one or two interesting things now.
posted by delmoi at 8:35 PM on September 24, 2012

I think it looks kind of cool.

I'd use it. I hope other people will, as well, because at this point, I'm pretty fucking fed up with Facebook. Unfortunately, everyone uses Facebook.
posted by Redfield at 8:36 PM on September 24, 2012

Know what's cooler than a million dollars?

Squares.

But, seriously, this is gorgeous. However, I do wonder how this next generation of UIs will hold up in terms of usability. Microsoft's jumping on board in a very big way with Windows 8, but the beta left me underwhelmed. Similarly, this UI is great to look at, but potentially awkward to navigate, and even more perilously devoid of actual information; I doubt Jakob Nielsen is a fan...

It's almost like you need to be using a "normal" desktop/laptop that also has a touchscreen to make scrolling/etc feel natural in these UIs. A few of RIM's newer 'Keyboard' blackberries have touchscreens, and the hybrid interface is actually pretty nice, so maybe we'll actually see this become a thing...
posted by schmod at 9:08 PM on September 24, 2012

I have no idea if it looks cool or not, as it seems to think Opera is an outdated browser and wants me to use some vile perversion called IE or Safari or Firefox or something like that.

So fuck it.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:21 PM on September 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's almost like you need to be using a "normal" desktop/laptop that also has a touchscreen to make scrolling/etc feel natural in these UIs. A few of RIM's newer 'Keyboard' blackberries have touchscreens, and the hybrid interface is actually pretty nice, so maybe we'll actually see this become a thing...

The Palm Pre. Totally fetch all along.
posted by running order squabble fest at 3:23 AM on September 25, 2012

Google+ is pretty lame

We've been using it for daily video conferencing, so I have an account. I feel bad for them when they throw up the interstitial screen, begging me to add more friends, before letting me in to my home thing. Don't be so needy, Google+! It is not very attractive. Not everyone likes "social networking", and you need to accept that. I'm just here for the daily video call. Go play with your money, that always makes you feel better.
posted by thelonius at 5:13 AM on September 25, 2012

The Palm Pre. Totally fetch all along.

HP stopped trying to make the Pre happen. It wasn't going to happen.
posted by Winnemac at 5:15 AM on September 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Why is it sideways?
posted by Anything at 5:56 AM on September 25, 2012

fifthrider: ">It's like:
>$ pinterest | win8 | ping > profit.txt

Doesn't bode too well, of course, that Ping is now already so dead that Apple's taken down the page announcing its death"

I totally thought they were talking about the network diagnostic tool. so it makes sense to me now
posted by ArgentCorvid at 6:57 AM on September 25, 2012

Potomac Avenue: They waited too long to exploit their music discovery niche though, now there's bandcamp. Though bandcamp still doesn't do social well.

And I hope it never does. It is perfect as it is - an easy way to listen to and download music. It doesn't need a social element.
posted by komara at 7:57 AM on September 25, 2012

(I was wondering why my last comment seemed familiar)
posted by komara at 8:18 AM on September 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Malice: Some businesses need to know when to call it quits.

_{*cough*Yahoo*cough*}

With a market capitalization in the tens of billions, ... 3rd place is still pretty fucking profitable.
posted by IAmBroom at 8:26 AM on September 25, 2012 [1 favorite]

Haha clearly Myspace:Bandcamp::Me:komara
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:34 AM on September 25, 2012

>$ pinterest | win8 | ping > profit.txt

tail -f /dev/random > /dev/null
posted by zippy at 9:00 AM on September 25, 2012

It's dead, Jim. Move on.
posted by Justinian at 12:20 PM on September 25, 2012

You know what Timberlake hasn't made in a while? Music. If he started working on a new album, and released it over his new MySpace, he could instantly get a huge wave of people signing on.
posted by Apocryphon at 6:12 PM on September 25, 2012 [1 favorite]