If you enjoy the unfolding drama of MySpace’s slow descent into obscurity, you’ll appreciate the latest stats. According to TechCrunch and comScore, MySpace traffic dropped 14.4 percent between January and February 2011, from 73 million visitors to 63 million visitors. That’s a 43.2 percent overall drop in the course of one year — a never-clearer sign that News Corp.’s once-popular social network is twirling down the toilet at the speed of light.
I once had a modicum of hope for MySpace. I thought maybe the folks (the ones that are left, that is) at MySpace could play to the site’s strengths and refocus on independent music distribution and promotion. Instead, countless revamps later, MySpace has settled into the sad truth that it can’t keep up with the changes in social networking — it’s not about static sites anymore but rather apps: location-based mashups like Agora, photo sharing like Color, and group texting and video chat services like GroupMe and Beluga that use the Twilio platform.
But now I have no faith in further transformation; I just want to see its employees find lucrative new jobs before giving MySpace a good old-fashioned Viking funeral.