Online Marketing Blog from metrocafe311

As we know Generation Y is the term used for the elusive 13 – 35 year old market. This group was known to be notoriously difficult to market to until a little thing called social media came along to help out. Now Myspace has realised it is seriously missing out on their chunk of this Y-pie.

Yesterday Myspace announced that they will be embarking on a redesign of their site starting Wednesday and continuing though November. According to The New York Times The new site aims to de-clutter the interface that users are currently interacting with. It sounds as though the site will borrow many of the features from their competitor social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. The new site will have a news stream on the home page where connection’s updates can be viewed easily. The user’s profile page will also be tidied up allowing a more streamlined profile with less of the flashing icons and irregular page design that Myspace is known for.

The new Myspace will also look to reward their most frequent users much like the check-in service Foursquare. Those that use the service often and update their profile consistently with new links and content will be awarded badges. How and exactly what these badges will be awarded for has not been outlined as of yet. I so however have the nostalgic ‘share the luv’ feature in Bebo beaming at me in my head.

It is great to see Myspace finally take on the challenge of the redesign. While we all know someone who still uses the network it has become almost a back room for wannabe musicians. What is overlooked is the one common interest between these members and that was music or more broadly – entertainment. Myspace has spotted this or perhaps knew all along and are now planning on becoming a niche social network in the business of ‘social entertainment”

So what does this mean for Irish users of social networks? We know the Irish Generation Y is big but are they already too comfortable in a social network? 50% of Facebook’s users are in the sought after Generation Y. And just as news of Myspace took off in Ireland, Bebo managed to bounce in to the party resulting in few Irish signing up the social network. All this aside looking at Myspace’s clever new design and frankly cool ad for the redesign there could be a new player in the market.

If executed correctly Myspace will create their niche in the market and become a haven for music sharing online. Myspace may just have landed in Ireland at the right time too. There is a big buzz around social media and people are more open to it.  The new site appears to have other social plug-ins for Facebook and Twitter which people are already comfortable with. The changes will no doubt make the site more ad friendly too and allow them to increase revenue for themselves and others looking to market to Generation Y.

So tell us do you have a Myspace account? Would a site redesign prompt you to open an account? Let us know your experiences and thoughts on Myspace and the new design. 

Aoife