The Return of MySpace: Will The Site’s Redesign Bring Back Users?

Don’t call it a comeback, MySpace has been here for years. You might give your calendar a double take, thinking its 2008 again, when you hear MySpace will be overhauling its site’s entire look, feel, and navigation. MySpace is looking to reinvent itself and make a new impression on social networking, and they seem to be targeting musicians and bands.

A new promotional video released by MySpace emphasizes its resources for musicians and bands to connect with their fans and to share their music. The site is owned by Justin Timberlake and Specific Media LLC, and the pop-star is the focus of much of the video. The video shows Justin Timberlake’s MySpace page, demonstrating how quickly he can see the demographics of his audience, how many users are currently listening to his music, and it even shows the most influential fan in his network.

Rather than advertising the re-design as a new social networking site, much like Google+ has done, it mostly displays the features that will appeal to musicians and music junkies. While Facebook users can create fan pages for their music or band, it does not offer much in the way of streaming tracks and posting content that can be listened to directly from the site.  MySpace seems to want to fill this void, offering a social networking experience that also ties in the user’s favorite musicians and bands.

The video indicates that users will be able to log into the new MySpace with a Facebook or Twitter account and, as far as the design, it is slightly reminiscent of the Windows 8 live tiles. Multiple widgets display status updates, information about friends, and the pages scroll horizontal rather than vertical, pulling along the screen to show older updates.

There is no news on the release date of the new design, but users can sign up at MySpace.com to receive an invite.