ParisLemon » MySpace: Those Who Can’t Do, Copy

MySpace: Those Who Can’t Do, Copy

If you ever need proof that one company greatly fears another, just look at how much they copy that company. Today’s perfect example: MySpace. Reuters is reporting that MySpace will add a Facebook-style news feed sometime in the next 30 to 45 days. No less than Fox Interactive Media’s (MySpace’s parent) President said this himself.

It’s doesn’t surprise me that I feel the need to remind myself and others all the time that MySpace is still much bigger than Facebook in terms of users and traffic, but recently it seems like MySpace needs to do the same thing to itself. First we had MySpace promising a platform after they realized how successful Facebook was – AllFacebook rightly notes this has still yet to come to fruition despite such an emphasis being placed on it, and no, OpenSocial doesn’t count. Now we have an emphasis being placed on pumping out a News Feeds feature, which I don’t think there is anyway MySpace can deny is directly lifted from their smaller rival. And of course don’t forget the rumor that MySpace will soon undergo a complete redesign to look more like Facebook.

Perhaps most interesting is this little tidbit from the story:

He [Fox Interactive Media Presiden Peter Levinsohn] said his company also plans to let users express different versions of themselves by creating more than one profile, for example one for family, one for friends and another for work.

Which again sounds similar to a feature that has been rumored to be coming to Facebook for a while now.

MySpace, you’re the biggest social network in the world, try to act like it. Come up with your own ideas, force Facebook to copy you. At the very least, buy LinkedIn already to make it seem like your only comeback tactic isn’t “I know you are but what am I?”.

[photo under CC by flickr user jm3]

Post by MG Siegler on 11/26/07
Comments

MG Siegler

@blackout - jeez get a room with MySpace already. The sound of agreement with you around the blogosphere is deafening.

I'll maybe give you the MySpace Music thing (I've never even heard of MySpace Comedians), pending what Facebook actually does with its music section - which is obviously yet to be seen.

However my first intention in pointing out these things was to show that MySpace is clearly afraid of Facebook - it's not just like they've copied one thing here, they're copying everything that could potentially allow Facebook to suck away users. A smart move? Maybe in the short term, but unless MySpace wants to keep from playing catch-up, they better start innovating.

Maybe MySpace came up with the Platform idea on their own - maybe - but that means that either Facebook was still working on it first or MySpace is REALLY slow - neither looks very good for them.

As I noted, MySpace is still the king of the space, but they certainly aren't acting like it. Kings lead, peasants follow.

I'm Blackout

Just because an idea wasn't original doesn't mean it's bad to copy it.

I love Facebook... I've loved the newsfeed from the beginning. MySpace is a joke... but you can't blame them for copying features.

Imagine if you couldn't play beer pong in a bar because that was invented at a fraternity house.

...

Or imagine if an airbag or anti-lock brakes weren't available to all car vendors.

...

I suspect the newsfeed is probably something they directly copied. However, the platform play, I don't suspect is a copycat move. It takes a long time to get a platform ready for public deployment... and with such a large user base and partners already plugged into the system, there were probably more considerations for MySpace with backwards compatibility and information security.

And for the record, MySpace does come up with their own ideas: MySpace music and comedians, businesses as friends... all done by MySpace first... now Facebook is copying with their own spin as noted in your other posts.