There seems to be an array of obsolete new communication technologies such as BSB, Napster, MySpace, IRC, etc. However, having previously only ever used MySpace, a trend that has faded into the distance, I feel it is best that I write and research into this particular topic. I do wonder if one ever really knows why such things fall out of favor or even why it happens so quickly. Just recently the value price in MySpace has dropped dramatically when News Corp, who bought MySpace in 2005 for $580 million dollars, sold the website to Specific Media Inc for a mere fraction of the price at $35 million (Fixmer, A, 2011). This huge difference in selling price is a strong indicator of the quick and painful downfall that MySpace has faced over merely six years. Facebook has clearly dominated MySpace, and swept it almost out of existence. According to Gillet, at its peak in 2008, MySpace had attracted 75.9 million monthly visitors in the US, however that steadily declined and by May this year it only had 34.8 million. Gillet goes on to state, “Over the past two years, MySpace has lost, on average, more than a million U.S. users a month.” It seems that all these past MySpace users have found their way onto Facebook, who according to their own admissions have over 500 million registered users. Unlike MySpace, Facebook has felt a huge and rapid boom with it only taking five months for Facebook to attract an extra 100 million users, from 400 million to 500 million. This poses the question, will Facebook continue on its upward trend of will it too face the downfall that MySpace has and end up being almost obsolete with the invention of Google+ ?
Reference:
Barnett, E 2011, MySpace by Numbers, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/myspace/8243403/MySpace-by-numbers-how-it-compares-to-its-rivals.html. Accessed 12th of August 2011
Fixmer, A 2011, News Corp. Calls Quits on Myspace With Specific Media Sale, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-06-29/news-corp-calls-quits-on-myspace-with-specific-media-sale.html. Accessed 12th of August 2011
Gillet, F 2011, The Rise and Inglorious Fall of MySpace, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_27/b4235053917570.htm. Accessed 12th of August 2011
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