MySpace

Feb 06, 2009 — Erik

For those recently emerging from a deep slumber, MySpace is the most popular social networking site in the world, with 110 million "users." This qualifies it as one of the most trafficked sites on the 'net, hands-down. But, in a rare case of popularity trumping basic usefulness on the web, most people over the age of 16 (even those who actively use MySpace) know that the whole site is a major epicenter of suckiness. These people may not be able to list the reasons why MySpace sucks, point for point, but they know it deep in their web-surfing hearts.

Unfortunately, as a marketing agency, we're sometimes asked by clients (and potential clients) about social media marketing (SMM) on MySpace. We normally tell these clients fundamental reasons why it might not be the best idea.  The strongest reasons "against" are the absolute inundation of the site by spammers, the lack of good data on users, security flaws, no strong search functionality, and the general impossibility of getting things to look consistent and perform properly.

According to our friends at SEOmoz:

With MySpace, you are always going to be spamming when you create a regular profile for your company. Artists of various creeds have specialized profile options, but if you aren't a singer, filmmaker or comedian, you'll be creating a regular profile along with the world's fifteen year olds.  [And] it's impossible not to look trashy when you're faced with MySpace's profile options, such as "Who I'd like to meet" and "Heroes." Some of these options remain on your profile page, even if you do not add any content to them.

Of course, it's "easy" to tweak your profile on MySpace and get it to do things like match your brand colors or add a logo.  But that's about it. Then, the next logical step is to start "friending" people. Unfortunately, thousands of other companies have already beat you to it, thanks to spammers who use friend-adding programs to automatically add as many friends as possible. So you will most likely be seen by the people you attempt to "friend" as a company who has no real or genuine interest in engaging them on anything more than the most base level (spam).  This is in direct contrast to a site like Facebook, that has effectively managed to protect the integrity of the site by having marketers set up "pages," restricting the number and type of "broadcast" messages, and basically encouraging users to only "friend" actual friends.

Don't get us wrong. If your customers are already on MySpace -- and you have a youth-oriented brand with "pull" -- then by all means set up a profile and (damage) control your image. Heck, you may drum up some genuine buzz on the site, as our friend Dan at Couch Guitar Straps has managed to do by working long and hard at it.  But if you aren't a big youth-driven brand or a band, then you don't really need to get into MySpace. It gets a big 3dB Creative "minus" as a marketing tool: the time it takes is not worth the results you'll get versus other, much more useful social news or networking sites.

* PS - If all this hasn't convinced you to avoid MySpace as a marketer, then check out this report, which shows MySpace users are less educated and affluent than Facebook users.