Talking to The Telegraph at the Monaco Media Forum, Jones said the bold statement: “MySpace is a not a social network anymore. It is now a social entertainment destination.”
The troubled site, which saw its UK audience halve to 3.3 million monthly visitors in July earlier this year, is pinning its hopes of renewed success with a return to its music and content roots.
Two weeks ago, the redesigned MySpace, which focuses a lot more around content, rather than social networking, launched in the US and will go live in the UK in mid November. Everything has been changed; right down to the logo – which is now the word 'My' and an extended underscore to represent the ‘Space’.
MySpace, founded in 2003, at its peak had more than 100 million registered and active members, but its audience has been declining since the rise of Facebook in 2008.
It has come under increasing pressure from its parent News Corporation, which bought the site in 2005 for $580 million (£351 million) in 2005, to reverse its ailing fortunes.
On an earnings call at the start of this month, Chase Carey, News Corporation’s chief operating officer, said: "We've been clear that MySpace is a problem. The current losses are not acceptable or sustainable." And that he wanted "a clear path to profitability" on a timetable measured "in quarters, not in years”.
MySpace lost $156 million in the quarter that ended in September 2010 compared to a loss of $126 million in the same period last year, on revenues of $298 million, down 25.5%.
Jones said that Carey’s words were taken out of context, and that all of News Corp’s businesses are assessed quarterly.
“There is no timeline to shutdown MySpace. The goal of relaunching the site is to a build a new path and use the tools of social around entertainment content which will appeal to audiences aged between 13-35 around the world,” Jones explained.
However, when asked what UK-specific content deals had been signed in preparation for the roll out of the newly designed site on this side of the pond, in a couple of weeks, Jones was evasive. “In order for our content strategy to work, we will need localized content strategies, but these have not been initiated yet.” MySpace shut down all of its European offices last year, and made the London-based office its head quarters outside of the US. Critics have said that MySpace is too US-centric, in its provision of content and delivery.
He also admitted that MySpace Music, the site’s free streaming service, which has failed to make a huge impact in the UK, with many people preferring to stream music using sites such as Spotify, could be improved. “I think we can be better at the way people consume music on MySpace. And over the coming months, we will be rolling out new features to improve this.
“MySpace still plays an integral role in the showcasing of music talent and every band still has a page.”
Jones would not be drawn on rumours that MySpace will soon implement a Facebook Connect button across its service, allowing people to use their Facebook identities on MySpace –which would effectively mean promoting what was once their biggest rival across the site.
He also said that he was focusing his energies on retaining the majority of the current 130 million-strong global registered membership as opposed to attracting new audiences. “We have to get the product, which is still in beta, fully right before we go out and hunt new users,” he said.
Jones said new users would be of a younger demographic who want to “meet new and old friends around great content”. The focus of the ‘new MySpace’ in the UK during the launch period of the redesign will be solely on music discovery, with other content focus areas, such as TV and film, to come later. However, the US MySpace revamp launched with movie, TV and celebrity content ‘hubs’ already in place. Jones is hoping higher quality content, will yield good advertising returns.
The revamped site aims to make itself the UK’s “leading social music destination for 13 to 35 year olds”. It will promote influential MySpace users and content curators across the site.
New products include a recommendations feature – which promotes ‘tastemakers’ on every page to help users find new content suited to their tastes; a discovery tab – which is present on every page and shows what content a user’s friends are watching or what is trending across the site, and a new trending feature called ‘Right now on MySpace’ – which informs the recommendation feature.
The redesigned MySpace homepage showcases popular music content as it ‘bubbles up’ across the site in real-time. Additionally, once a user logs into MySpace, the homepage will instantly populate with content based on the individual’s interests.
Jones said he was enjoying the challenge of trying to turn around one of the fastest growing websites in the world and had not been distracted by the walkout of two chiefs executives in the last 10 months. First Owen Van Natta stunned staff with his departure after a mere nine months at the helm of the company in February, and then Jason Hirschorn, one of Van Natta’s replacements, followed suit four months later.
When asked what MySpace would like in 2015, Jones said: “It sounds like a mobile product.” He denied that MySpace was up for sale.
