On BrandRepublic (sub. req.) John Wood, MD at Beechwood Marketing writes:

Anyone who works in marketing who hasn't visited myspace.com is already out of touch with the youth sector. And once you have visited, you may start by wondering what on earth it is, and why it has been so successful (...). Like a teenager's bedroom, the site is a mess from a design point of view (...). If you want to get inside the heads of the global youth market, this site should be every marketer's reference.

Take note.

Yadda, yadda. It'll be insteresting to see how the youth market reacts to the increasing number of restrictions MySpace will have to put in place.

Also, what will be the reaction of users when MySpace tries to start generating some much need revenues? The majority of UGC sites are using relying on dvertising, but there's only so much to go around as we saw during the dotbomb years. UGC is still unproven in revenue generation outside of advertising.

It'll be interesting to see how MySpace approaches alternative revenue streams.

Posted by: DanW at April 13, 2006 11:59 AM

Myspace started in '03 when, at that time, everyone using that sort of social-networking tool was signed onto Friendster. Now there's Friendster, Mypsace and Facebook. If Myspace puts up restrictions there are other places for these teens to go. And I'm sure if Myspace needs to generate revenue, they'll find a good way to do it. Everyone knows the purchasing power of teens.

Blogging site, LiveJournal, raises money in a good way. They offer free memberships but give perks to people who pay a monthly or yearly rate for an account. And I haven't come across many people who mind.

Posted by: nicole at April 13, 2006 02:19 PM

Must say that article really shows how difficult it is to reach this target group - the new "Idols" of "Content" generation. Actually we have a brand new white paper on the topic. Check out from http://voice.satama.com.

Posted by: Tommi Pelkonen at April 13, 2006 04:24 PM

Myspace is great for people in their twenties. For teenagers, though, I would really be scared. Either way, I'm admittedly on it: People Paula.

Posted by: People Paula at April 14, 2006 08:13 AM

Probably a new marketing target group - the number of new members is exploding!!

Watch and wait....

Posted by: scheichenost at April 16, 2006 07:05 PM

Myspace + Hi5 = cues and insights about this "content generation" and their need to share experiences\info. and get recognition\engagement with their own peers.

Posted by: hidden persuader at April 22, 2006 11:28 AM