The Monetization of MySpace
The increasing commercialization of MySpace, commented upon recently by this site in MySpace Safety: E-Commerce to the Rescue and Reputation is One Obstacle to MySpace Success, continues. On Tuesday, News Corporation announced that it plans to solicit bids from search leaders Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft to provide search-based advertisements for the social networking site. The company hopes to increase the advertising revenue generated by the site.
According to a Reuters story on washingtonpost.com:
The division is being viewed as a testing ground for new media opportunities, particularly efforts to reap advertising dollars from social networking, one of the hottest areas of audience growth online.
However, MySpace’s revenue potential may have already peaked. There is some indication that its teenage population is moving elsewhere. Internet commentators are increasingly discussing MySpace’s waning popularity. Fears that the site is dangerous and attempts to legislate access to the site, such as Congress’s interest in MySpace, are growing across the country. Increasing the number of advertisements is not likely to further endear the site to its teenage denizens.
For more information on MySpace’s efforts to partner with search engines, see News Corp.’s MySpace to solicit bids for search on washingtonpost.com and Search Tie-Up May Unlock MySpace Profit Potential on E-Commerce Times.
For more information on concern that MySpace’s popularity is waning, see MySpace No Longer Their Space? on nytimes.com; For Teens, MySpace.com Is Just So Last Year on E-Commerce Times; and MySpace: It's, like, so 2006 on Blogma (CNET News).
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