Is there anybody there?

From Swagger New York:

"Consider us new fans of, yes, Myspace. The social network made a major splash this week, introducing a sleek and sexy new redesign in a video that hit the web yesterday, and we are sold, sold, sold! The site, known for giving bands huge exposure nearly a decade ago, has been trying for years to take on the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Just this year, it even leveraged a relationship with Justin Timberlake and Panasonic to bring it some sexy back. But right now – with a design that integrates social, music, news, and analytics into one – seems to be the moment for Myspace."

As any regular reader will know, the majority of the content of the five year epic that is this Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle blog actually began life as a blog on MySpace. At the time I started in 2007, it was the place to be if you wanted an online "presence" - Facebook was still an American college network, Geocities, Tripod and AOL chatrooms were dead or decaying, and Twitter and Tumblr weren't even born. It was pretty cool for its day, allowing extensive personalisation, multi-media and a newish concept of "social networking" (the ability to add "friends" to your page who you could "follow" and could "follow" you rather than just chat).

I left there only a couple of years ago when the then Rupert-Murdoch-owned gremlins got to work on the site, destroying the layout, the flexibility and the blogging space in favour of a "FB-lite" stream of babble, and I painstakingly transferred every single blog post (one by one) to Blogger.

I never killed the old beast entirely, and occasionally popped in to see the tumbleweed blowing about. Everyone I connected with eventually deserted Myspace for pastures new (whether to F***book, or here, or just to oblivion).

But now - in the still-sexy hands of Mr Justin Trousersnake and chums - Myspace appears to have had not just a tweak or two, but a full body makeover that couldn't look more radically different if it tried.

It's out with the old:



And in with the new!









The most over-used word being bandied about in the reviews is "sexy". But I must admit it does look impressive, as picture'n'music sharing sites go! There is no sign of a blogging feature, but then I already have that. However I have signed up (of course) so I can have a play around when the New Myspace actually launches.

Take a tour:



However, the question remains - will anyone I know be there if I return?