New MySpace To Be Segregated From Old MySpace
(CNET) — When the revamped MySpace launches over the coming months, new users of the once-high-flying social network will be kept separate from veteran users of "classic MySpace."
That was the word from CEO Tim Vanderhook during an interview published today on ABCnews.com about plans for what is being called "new MySpace."
"There will be a separate section for our consumer base using the classic MySpace," Vanderhook told ABC. "We are going to leave it up for quite awhile. We will make a decision at a later date if we will ever take down the old property."
That decision is a curious one, given how spectacularly the old MySpace came crashing down -- or at least how it was so completely rolled over by Facebook. Still, at its peak, MySpace was the world's largest social network, so it does make sense not to totally abandon the millions of users who flocked to it to get the latest on their favorite bands (among other activities).
According to MySpace COO Chris Vanderhook, the new service won't have a single launch in which everyone is invited in at once. Instead, the idea is to get it going "on a rolling basis," he said in the interview. "We are in a beta period now with artists, managers, DJs, tastemakers. Our employees, which is a little over 700, have been on the site for a few months now. The next to get the invites will [be] the MySpace loyalists, and we will continue to roll out invites for the foreseeable future.... We know we are the underdog. For us, it is a little too presumptuous to do a big huge, bang, Steve Jobs launch. That's not our brand and it's not right for MySpace. We want to prove everything that we want to do."
According to Vanderhook, the new MySpace will be integrated with both Twitter and Facebook because "no one wants to manage another social network. Indeed, the MySpace CEO tipped his hat to Facebook, calling it the "uber social network that is supposed to be there."
Instead, he argued that MySpace will continue to be targeted at the world of music, much as LinkedIn is aimed at business. "We think there is a huge gap that we wanted to fulfill," Vanderhook said. "There is no point to compete with Facebook and Twitter."
