Last night I saw a video called 'This is Myspace'.
Mywhat? Remember that? MySpace - a home for musicians and their fans, launched back in 2003 and reaching an estimated value of $12billion dollars at what is seen as the height of its peak in 2007.
Despite a series of often frequent and slightly fractured re-designs, Myspace lost its crown in 2008, as Facebook overtook it, lunging forward in audience share. Myspace was lost. Rapidly losing value, employees and users, the site looked like it was becoming a social deadwork, and had become absolutely engulfed in painfully customised profiles and crippled by spammers.
Even a multi-million dollar investment from actor and musician Justin Timberlake looked to me like a complete waste of his money.
But last night..... Last night I saw a glimpse of a new Myspace. And it looked fresh. It looked like it had spent its time using Timberlake's investment to listen, to watch, to be creative, and now it looks like it is ready to ride back into a feirce battle.
The new Myspace from Myspace on Vimeo.
From the new video, I could see exciting echoes of Google+, Facebook, Pinterest, Last.fm, Twitter, iTunes - all merged together with lots of vertical and horizontal flowing content, to create what looks like an exciting fresh new start for Myspace. It's clear that it is putting video, music and photography at the frontline of content, and engagement at the core of its goal.
For once, I feel excited for Myspace, but I wonder whether the world can be lured back into its arms.