Myspace Remains Immortal

Like Jason Voorhees, Myspace is back from the near-dead. Or, well, it's going to be back. Soon. You just need to give them your e-mail at a new landing site to get an invite to join. After a brave, Hail Mary-like push in October of 2010 to reboot the social networking site with a new identity and functionality under the auspices of News Corp, Myspace crashed badly and was picked up by Specific Media, an interactive media company that "enables advertisers to connect with consumers in meaningful, impactful and relevant ways." They were joined by Justin Timberlake, who was reported to "take an ownership stake and play a major role in developing the creative direction and strategy for [Myspace] moving forward." The new creative direction and strategy are here. Yesterday, Timberlake introduced a preview video to his 13,000,000-plus Twitter followers.

Preview of the new Myspace site.

Original logo.

There isn't an official release, but the sign-off for the video and a blip on the landing page show a new Myspace logo that revives the isotype trio of yore in a new, streamlined execution. It's an interesting move, going back to the source, as it comes with all the weight and history of a network that had it all and then lost it all. In a way, I like it. It signifies that the brand and name still means something, that it has the potential to be relevant again by tapping into what made it successful in the first place. The execution — in the video you can also see a type lock-up in the bottom-left corner — is fine and simple as can be. Much better than the original for sure, and more in tune with the slickness of the preview — which, like it or not, looks promising if not at least intriguing. The new site appears to embrace the supremacy of Facebook and Twitter by connecting into your existing network and building on it through a rather nice-looking interface, and places emphasis on photos and music, the latter one of the reasons the original Myspace was so popular. This pre-launch has gathered a bit of traction, mostly of sites bemoaning Myspace's desperate attempts for reinvention but this feels legitimately ambitious and with proper positioning it might succeed as a complement to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, et al.

Thanks to Errol Colautti for the tip.