MySpace Tries to Get It's Brand Back... Good Luck.

I'm not going to lie; I jumped on the MySpace bandwagon when it was all the rage a few years ago. And as much as it kills me to admit it, I haven't deleted my account, and, to the best of my knowledge, MySpace hasn't either. There's something sacred in deleting a social network account or a blog.... I've got this mental block that it just seems "wrong." Either way, I log on every few months to get it another chance, and am constantly disappointed at the cess pool of social media laid out before mine eyes. MySpace is a complete disaster. It's covered in flashy, annoying ads that just scream "cheap!!!", and it's filled with unsavory characters. Tell me I'm wrong; I dare you. So how did MySpace get here? And can they fix it?

Apparently, they're going to try. According to that little blip, MySpace is attempting to get it's brand back my focusing more on music, videos and games.

I'm not really sure how this will help the brand recover. The issue wasn't necessarily content (although I've seen enough pics of people in their bathrooms trying to look sexy to last me a lifetime, thank you), but functionality and the AWFUL ads/spam. MySpace is still a place for music, and many bands and music professionals alike still swear you still need a MySpace page. I'm on the fence about this, because MySpace's search function is so band that it severs limited to ability of fans to FIND music that they might actually like. Instead, users are stuck fumbling around with random key words that MIGHT be the title of a band or song they like. For example, if I like metal, I should probably type in "Guitars of Death Steel," or "Apocalypse Babies" and hope for the best. There's no intuitive way to find music related to bands that you like. Sure, there are "genres," but how often do you look up a band you like and go "What the hell?? They're not [insert genre]!" Maybe I simply haven't played around with it enough to find the niche, but should I have to?

Moving on to videos and games, it's still going to be an uphill battle. YouTube has established itself as the top go-to for videos... what is MySpace's "hook" to top that? And what's the approach to gaming? Is is casual gaming a la Yahoo! Games? Or bigger, downloadable stuff a la Gametap? Either way, they're going to have to prove to users that not only have they cleaned up their brand (hurdle #1), but also that their services are BETTER than what's currently out there (hurdle #2). Can they do it? I'm not so sure, but I'm willing to hang on to m profile for a bit longer to find out.