The Internet was abuzz Thursday afternoon, with comments about the latest changes to Facebook. But Facebook wasn’t the only social-networking site to unveil a new design on Thursday. One-time rival Myspace also rolled out some new, albeit minor changes.
“Psst, test out a new Myspace homepage!” read the subject line of the email Myspace sent to users Thursday afternoon, encouraging them to check out a sneak peak of the new homepage. The new design would allow users to see and listen to and “enjoy the LARGEST library of FREE music” on the Internet, the email said.
Turns out, the new home page looks quite similar to the old home page. Taking a tour of the new page reveals some of its changes. Those new features include the ability to create an automatic playlist of the “stream” of videos featured in posts from friends and musicians, actors and other artists that a user follows. In a module on the top right corner, users can listen to the latest music that a user’s friends or favorite bands are listening to. A new module on the left-hand side of the page also provides people with an easy way to check out their friends’ activities on the site.
Myspace said in a statement that its unique licensing agreements with major and independent record labels enables the site to deliver a “robust” offering of free music. The changes come about three months after digital advertising firm Specific Media LLC acquired Myspace from News Corp. for about $30 million. (News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.) Actor and musician Justin Timberlake also took a stake in the company.
Since then, traffic to Myspace continues to decline. The site attracted 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors in August, down 44% from a year earlier, according to comScore Inc.
Myspace had originally planed to unveil its vision for transforming the site into a hot spot for media during an exclusive summer press conference. Instead, Myspace plans to unveil its during Madison Avenue’s “Advertising Week” conference in New York next month.