MySpace Reboots With New Look & Focus

Late yesterday, a long struggling Myspace launched its anticipated makeover and a new focus as entertainment hub.  Taking a page from the Malcom Gladwell playbook, Myspace is now encouraging curators – fans who have "the reputation and knowledge around particular entertainment topics and emerging cultural trends" – offering tools to expand their reach within the social network. Music head Cortney Holt was a key driver in the makeover and explained the research that led to it:

"I literally started to go through with a microscope and look at the network and say 'Wow, this user has a lot of followers. If they edit a song on their page, 100,000 to 200,000 people immediately know about it.," Holt told the HuffingtonPost, "And I'm like, wow, that kid may have more influence than the modern rock radio station in Rochester… You start to see who are the people who are really, really early. So I can go back and look at the data and say, who do you think the first person is who added Lady Gaga to a playlist?"

The new beta site has more tool to allow users to express, collect, and display their creations and interests on their profiles and through sharing tools, as well as to connect to fans with similar tastes. Another part of the rebranding is a new logo (above), which has been largely panned, and with a change to lower case "s".change. (MySpace is now Myspace).

Users can now toggle between 3 views of the homepage:

• List view: Traditional view
• Grid view: A magazine-like format
• Play view: A video format that allows users to watch, forward and resize their updates to full screen

Myspace says that a mobile version will launch soon.

A debate had already begun amoung musicians and music marketers as to whether it is worth it to mainatin a presence on MySapce. Hypebot's Kyle Byling wrote "Delete Your Account Now!" but I dsiagreed and offered 6 Reasons Not To Quit MySpace.

 What do you think of the new Myspace?