Where does MySpace go now? Some of the recent headlines:

'MySpace senior VP and MD Travis Katz is the latest senior executive to leave the social networking company'

'MySpace is cutting 100 UK jobs as part of its worldwide scaling down of operations'

My take on things:

These aside the future looks less than certain for this social networking site, MySpace started the 'profile' yourself era that we now live in, Facebook and Bebo fans will of course argue otherwise but MySpace was really the first of the new era of these sites to really allow control over the look and to some degree feel of the users profile, this however is where it really stopped.  Facebook has moved leaps and bounds in terms of the 'sharing' element of social networking which proved so popular a whole phenomenon was spawned from Status Updates alone (Twitter)

MySpace did indeed brake into the ads market quicker than most but display advertising unless planned correctly can fall short of expectations (Free Rein offer social network advertising) so a move into the niche they seemingly created themselves was the next big move from MySpace, MySpace Music was the element of their offering all hopes were pinned on, and to date a lot of the activity in the media and marketplace has been around this very element, from gig sponsorship and big music related competitions.

I think the problems are the longevity factor of the website and its usefulness to its users, sure Lily Allen shot to fame through MySpace but lets be real, talent will get noticed somewhere/someway and MySpace championing this is great however too much of a good thing is not always good, a flood of musical wannabes turn users off as it takes a while (too long for social network users) to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Ian thinks the problem lies in the technicalities that sit behind the platform, asp being not very flexible is a major flaw as new developments take a lot longer and more time and developer resource to carry out, Ian's suggestion, a complete rebuild of the core platform onto php/my sql... not something I think will happen unless the decline picks up pace.

I for one love all things modern internet and champion MySpace and all other social networking sites... do I use it though?.. No is the answer and MySpace may well find this the case for many more demanding internet users like myself. (Adam Free Rein)