Why did MySpace fall so fast?

The news about MySpace seems to be no longer news. From the brilliance of web2.0 to the management changes after the takeover of News Corp, the consequent layoffs and recent rumors of sales, the former social giant, who was supposed to be in the prime of life, quickly entered the twilight years. And the view has been that the reason why the rapid fall of MySpace is mainly affected by two factors:

News Corp's bureaucratic stranglehold, Facebook's more dynamic and attractive competition, two separate but interrelated factors. Said its fall may be too pessimistic, but the defeat is an indisputable fact!

But a recent Reuters report, "Special Report:how News Corp got lost in Myspace," also said the two most direct factors. This article is very long and it takes enough patience to finish it. The article is a comprehensive and complete interpretation of a former such a brilliant company why will be reduced to the point of ridicule today. But not only that, but a very interesting analysis.

The article points out that the failure of MySpace may not be entirely attributable to the bureaucratic stupidity of News Corp, which has put Facebook on the top of the social networking site. In fact, Google plays a very important role in this MySpace murder.

Back in 2006, Google beat Yahoo in a bid to win a 900 million-dollar contract to provide online search and advertising services for nearly 100 million users of social networking site MySpace. That would be a perfect deal for Mr Murdoch, but the deal has made MySpace a heavy shackle. According to the contract, MySpace has to increase the page browsing rate, on the other hand, has to increase the already bloated advertising position, and at this time, Facebook because of the simple clean page design began to be welcomed by people.

The article says:

At this point, MySpace managers are beginning to realize that Google's deal has become a double-edged sword hanging over its head. Google's 3 million dollars a year for a total of 3 years of transactions, the MySpace user access to make specific quantitative rules, which led to MySpace dare not easily try some experimental reform measures. So the deal was agreed by Wall Street to be a coup-type act of usurpation.

"This is a great deal in the short term, but in the long run the deal is not perfect," said MYSAPCE's management staff. We've been stuck to improve the user's page access rate by adding a lot of bloated pages and a lot of advertising coverage, ignoring Facebook's usability design!

This factor is ignored by many media, but its role in the process is very important. The funny thing is this: Google wanted to use MySpace to find a good partner in social networking, but did not think it was self-defeating, giving its current biggest competitor: Facebook a rapid development opportunity!