MySpace puts brands at heart of global redesign

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 13-Jun-08, 10:40

NEW YORK - MySpace is launching a global redesign next week with improved navigation and search capabilities designed to increase user engagement and broaden the social networking site's demographic in its fightback against rival Facebook.

The News Corporation-owned website is set to unveil the first phase of the relaunch on June 18, which will be part of the first top-to-bottom overhaul of the site since its launch in January 2004.

Changes include upgrades to navigation, profile editing and search functions, as well as an overhaul of the homepage and the MySpaceTV Flash player.

The MySpaceTV player will include features that make it easier for MySpace members to embed and share videos.

Changes to search capabilities will allow MySpace members to navigate through a set of tabs to search personal profiles, music profiles, the entire MySpace site, videos on MySpaceTV, or the web as a whole.

MySpace said in a statement: "This is more than a facelift -- we're changing the way people interact with the site and with brands."

As part of the relaunch a major but unnamed advertiser will take over the US homepage of MySpace homepage on the first day of the relaunch.

The redesign, which has been in planning for more than six months, has been guided by focus groups, user surveys and other research into what consumers and advertisers want from MySpace.

MySpace's unique users have been in steady decline in the UK, falling 14.3% year on year to 8.47m in April 2008, according to Comscore.