Whitespace: Is MySpace your space?

By Mark Fowler

It's better than even odds that you use Google as your primary Internet search engine. And as a reader of AIM's Whitespace it's also likely that you are a Baby Boomer (aged between 42 and 60).

It is also possible that you haven't yet picked up on the stratospheric global ascent in popularity (and importance) of MySpace.com, the Internet social networking site for younger (than us) people.

The typical model for social networking sites has been that an initial set of founders invites members of their own personal networks to join their site. New members repeat the process, growing the total number of members and links in the network. These sites offer features such as automatic address book updates, viewable profiles, the ability to form new links through "introduction services", and other forms of online social connections. (1)

In May, Jon Gibs, senior director of media, Nielsen//NetRatings described the rising phenomenon. "Social networking sites are the reality television of the Internet. The content is relatively inexpensive for publishers to produce, and social networking is not a fad that will disappear. If anything, it will become more ingrained in mainstream sites, just as reality TV programming has become ubiquitous in network programming." (2)

MySpace co-founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe launched the site in July 2003 from Santa Monica in Califomia. Their intent was to grow beyond the existing social networking models into a one-stop web portal, combining the most popular features with Generation Y (aged 6 to 25) from other social-networking portals: the instant-message capabilities of American Online, the classifieds of craigslist.com, the invitation service of Evite.com and the come-hither dating profiles of match.com. (3)

As of the 23 September 2006 MySpace had a whopping 112 million registered users. (4) MySpace had nearly 45.7 million unique visitors in June, with users spending an average of nearly two hours on the site at a time. Australia alone already has 2 million MySpace members, many of whom sign in from an Australian MySpace home page at http://au.myspace.com/.

The business opportunity to reach and 'own' this highly web-active market of global youth prompted Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation to buy MySpace for US$580 million in July 2005. Already this looks like a bargain. The Australian recently reported that RBC Capital analyst Jordan Rohan estimates that MySpace could be worth around US$15 billion (AUD$20.02 billion) within three years, measured in terms of the value created for shareholders of parent company, News Corporation. (5)

Marketers and advertisers are hugely attracted to the possibility creating personal relationships with millions of young people.

"What we really struck upon is the power of friendship," said Michael Barrett, chief revenue officer for News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media and overseer of these deals, in a recent Wall Street Journal Interview. (6)

So what?

It is clear MySpace has achieved a spectacular resonance or connection with young people worldwide generally, and specifically with young Australians. If you or your organisation are looking to understand or connect with this demographic, it's probably time to jump into your own MySpace and find out what's going on. If you have kids, ask them if they use MySpace. And if they do, ask them to take you on a tour. You might be surprised.

Notes

1. Internet social networks - Social network, Wikipedia.org, 3 October 2006
2. Social networking sites grow 47 percent, Year over year, reaching 45 percent of web users, Nielsen//Netratings, 11 May 2006
3. Do You MySpace, The New York Times, 28 August 2005
4. List of social networking websites, Wikipedia.org, 3 October 2006
5. MySpace tipped to top $20bn worth, The Australian, 28 September 2006
6. On MySpace, Millions of Users Make 'Friends' With Ads, The Wall Street Journal, 7 August 2006

Mark Fowler is a Director of Global Foresight Network Pty Ltd, a business consultancy which provides research, strategic advice, facilitation and training services to help organisations navigate the 21st Century.