Cerebra

Preamble:
No doubt that you’ve heard of Myspace, even if it was something like, “Hey, remember that thing before Facebook? What was it called? Oh yeah, Myspace!”

I actually still have a Myspace account. Admittedly, I haven’t logged in, in about four years, but it’s still there, with my rubbish photos and ridiculous wall posts. The nice thing about Myspace, at least in the days of yore, was that your profile was completely customisable, from background, to the fonts, the box shapes and sizes, their placement, content and other plugins. I hosted videos and games on my profile, come for the laughs, stay for the games.

What I especially enjoyed about Myspace is that you didn’t have to know anyone to become their friend, so of course I befriended all the pretty girls and bands whose music I enjoyed. It was the music that hooked me, the sheer variety and access you had to it and its creators – come for the birds, stay for the tunes. ‘Friending’ bands and enjoying their music on a customisable platform. Pretty rad for nine years ago.

Then came Zuckerberg and “his” idea to make friendships and connections a more exclusive affair and The Facebook was born. Myspace was relegated to the corner to spend its formative years alone, in the dark, as the world abandoned it for the latest fad.

The meat of it:
Much to the credit to the Myspace chaps, they gave the red-headed step-child a bit of a (much needed) makeover. If you haven’t seen the introduction to the new Myspace, check my colleague Melissa's blogpost: Will the relaunch of MySpace bring sexy back?

Ok, so from here on out, I’m going to assume that you watched the video. I am also going to assume, like me, you think it’s super slick – why wouldn’t you, it looks bloomin’ fantastic.

But like Solomon said 2000+ years ago, ‘there’s nothing new under the sun’. Yes, I think the new MySpace looks fantastic, but how many of those ideas are fresh and original?

For your reference, check these out:
1. WeAreHunted.com – listen to music online, create an account and playlist and afford the bands an opportunity to send you promotional material (you don’t have to, but you can), you can also download certain tracks which is a great way to discover new artists if you’re in to that sort of thing.
2. – Launched as a closed beta in March 2010 and subsequently opened to the masses, Pinterest is a pinboard-style interest-sharing website for folks around the world to post and share their cool pictures.
3. Tagging – Facebook introduced tagging people in updates, pictures and notes. What I like about new Myspace is that you can (what it seems) hyperlink sections of text – something that was available previously - but now it has an aesthetically pleasing application.
4. Windows 8 – You know that thing that Microsoft made in an attempt to keep up with the rest of the world? Ok, to be fair, Windows 8 looks grand and works pretty well on tablets too – the user can run an application off on the side bar, while playing with other applications in the middle of the screen. When I look at the new Myspace, I get distinct Windows 8 vibes. (Not a bad thing!)
5. Sign-up using you Facebook or Twitter accounts. INGENIOUS! Don’t alienate the competition, incorporate them, making it that much easier for the Facebook lambs to wonder outside of their kraal.

Now throw all of these elements into a big pressure cooker, add a rainbow and a hipster, and voila, you have new Myspace.

I like it! The promotional video has certainly given me something to think about, even though my first thought was where they got the ideas to organise their content. But please don’t see this as a criticism, after all, to steal from one is plagiarism, to steal form many is research. However, the new design is rather indulgent of the generation of digital natives, I don’t see my dad using this. Myspace is doing the work to stay in the game, and so far I approve. With the continuous shifts in the online (r)evolution, the new Myspace may very well be the next big thing.

But the proof is in the pudding - I’m subscribed to get an invite when the beta testing starts, I’ll have more for you then, but for now, I find it difficult to describe it as anything other than “Neat-o”.