The new MySpace (Video)

Justin Timberlake just unveiled a video that shows off the new MySpace beta.

It appears that they're hoping to build on their popularity with musicians and the UI looks pretty nice. No word yet on when this will be open to the public.

Amy worked in the record business at Enigma, Elektra, Virgin and Sub Pop before she got sucked into the technology vortex. She co-founded the Backwards Beekeepers, a chemical-free urban beekeeping collective in Los Angeles. She runs digital marketing for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Hollywood Bowl.

MORE: Justin Timberlake • myspace

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http://twitter.com/cjporkchop cjporkchop

Maybe it’s because I don’t use Facebook, but I have no idea what’s going on in that video.

Or maybe I’m just old.
http://www.kidconcept.com/ danno

ZOMG i love the new interface. I really want to see more horizontal scrolling in websites, and the seemingly metro-styled UI has typography and photos beautifully done. Did the messaging interface catch your eye? This is really stellar design.
- http://burntheflag.ca Jardine
  
  I’m scared that I can’t tell if you’re serious or sarcastic…please tell me my sarcasm detector is broken.
  - http://www.kidconcept.com/ danno
    
    I am serious. I really love this style of design. I think it makes great use of multi-sized and proportioned displays, and highlights the content beautifully.
    
    I’m really tired of fixed width, center aligned columns. I think they are going to become markers of obsolete design like table based layouts or “everything above the fold” mentality.
    
    Don’t be scared but it sounds like your sarcasm detector is broken. I usually type earnestly, which might be what is confusing you.
    - ocker3
      
      Considering the spread of wide-screen monitors, perhaps having a side-scrolling interface instead of a vertically-scrolling one makes sense
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Given our cultural norm of reading side-bound books/magazines rather than scrolls, you’d think that horizontal would be the norm for websites.
      - http://www.kidconcept.com/ danno
        
        It’s funny, cause the scrolls I think of actually read horizontally as well.
        
        https://berryjo.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/pictures-of-awesomeness/scrollr1/
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Oh, yeah, you’re right. I guess that I was envisioning a proclamation.
      - greenglyph
        
        @Antinous_Moderator:disqus : My snarkometer ticked for a few moments there then stopped. Weird. I should probably recalibrate it.
        Anyway,the migration from 4:3 to 16:9 makes me a little sad. I understand that it’s likely a result of ‘convergence’, but I don’t like the implicit assumption that the most common and/or important thing we will do with our newly converged devices is watch tv/movies.
        
        For reading multiple lines or paragraphs of text, I’d argue that vertical scrolling is still far superior (for all languages that are read horizontally with vertical line breaks). If all you’re reading are short blips, or if you’re mostly viewing images then I guess horizontal scrolling is okay provided the controls are well implemented.
        
        Hopefully before too long display technologies will evolve to the point that we will be able to quickly and easily alter their form factors to suit any purpose (I should probably mention at this point that I’m currently using a CRT).
      - http://www.kidconcept.com/ danno
        
        I think the solution for long bodies of text is to break them into columns and stack them horizontally. In this configuration I think text would be more legible and you would have to scroll less than with the traditional single vertical column.
        
        I also think that 16:9 isn’t just for movies. Our FOV is wider than it is tall, which is why I think widescreens are so popular: they better fill our vision.
  - The Dour Salmon
    
    This would be much clearer with a little punctuation.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation
hungryjoe

Wow, they should totally have an IPO.
Dave X

Sorry, I’m waiting for Friendster 2.0.
spacedoggy

Newscorp still own MySpace?
- teapot
  
  No, they sold it at a tremendous loss to Justin Timberlake….. seriously.
  - http://www.spellingmistakescostlives.com darrrrrrn
    
    As much as I wish it was, they didn’t make a loss. They made most, if not all the money they spent on it back in a single deal with google over search ad revenue. :(
http://borborygmist.influxofdust.com/ Wayne Dyer

The fact that you’ll be able to log in to MySpace with Facebook and Twitter credentials speaks volumes.
- ocker3
  
  I can log into just about any website under the sun with my FB account, they certainly know what the dominant platform is, and it helps cut down on users not being able to login because they’ve forgotten their passwords
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1208613906 Curtis Hart
  
  I did a spit-take with my coffee when the opening video showed you could login with FB
teapot

Could this promo be any more empty and meaningless? It perfectly characterises how many people do little else on social media but spend their time trying to one-up each other on coolness and it simply comes off looking needy and pathetic.
- taintofevil
  
  The video is indeed old person Kryptonite.
BarBarSeven

That settles it: Adios Friendster! Helloooooo, MySpace!
http://www.ikaink.net Itsumishi

I must say I’m vaguely impressed. As someone that has a Facebook account for one purpose (University, and I’m only friends with people I’m doing group assignments with and I wish I didn’t have to use it but some groups insist), that used to use Myspace for the sake of promoting my band I could see myself coming back to this platform if it performs as slickly as the video demonstrates.

I also agree with Danno. Why is it that computer monitors and website layouts constantly seem to be heading in opposite directions? Screens, have gotten wider, while websites seem to be getting longer and longer!
- ocker3
  
  My lecturer actually setup an FB group because the chat/discussion functions provided by the official Uni Portal are shite!
Benjamin Terry

If Justin Timberlake can bring the sexy back, I’ll give it a shot. As much of a glitter.gif shirtless mirror pic dump hole it became, the band pages were totally the way to set up local shows and whatnot back in it’s day. You could just contact a random batch of local bands and make contacts for a show, scene, etc. Hard to tell from the promo, but it could be a workable niche… maybe, if it goes that route rather than trying to be the network it was.
http://www.spellingmistakescostlives.com darrrrrrn

Justin Timberlake is obviously using his expertise from founding Napster and being instrumental in the rise of Facebook.
TheMudshark

In spite of the redundant multiple showings of the same functionality in this video, the site looks interesting.
http://ima.gen.in imagenin

I think the interface looks slick but I agree with others that it’s very similar to the Windows 8 Metro looking tiles. Also maybe the Zune? Anyway, here’s my take on it being a Facebook Killer: http://www.sagerock.com/blog/new-myspace-not-facebook-killer/
http://www.facebook.com/OzVinylJunkie Oz Vinyljunkie

What no ability for me to customize and put an unreadable font on a psychedelic fractal background.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1208613906 Curtis Hart

I’m still waiting for Ge2.0cities…
http://www.luketemplewalsh.com/ Luke Temple Walsh

In the lyrics it says “Maybe I’m ashamed, to want you back.” I assume this means MySpace is female (in the tradition of H.A.L.) and she’s apologizing for the way she hurt me. All those times she kept me waiting, how she made things difficult to find, how she used to invite Unicorn Rainbow T-Shirt wearing strangers round to my place, people with whom I had nothing in common, and Rock guys and Gangsta Rap guys would just walk right in and just start playing their music in my place without even asking. She put me through a lot. But her love song here… I am almost tempted by her sideways overtures.