Professor: Myspace has many opportunities

Dr. Andrew Baker says the new Myspace can attract advertisers, and make money by selling music and concert tickets.



Professor: Myspace has many opportunities

Dr. Andrew Baker says that Myspace is on the right track, and has a chance to both attract advertisers and generate revenue through product sales.

Dr. Andrew Baker is an assistant professor of marketing at San Diego State University. After watching the video preview of the "new Myspace" he answered a few questions about the possible resurgence of entertainment-focused social network.

Q. Do you think advertisers will be drawn to the new Myspace?

A. Advertisers follow the user base. So, the first question is whether MySpace can truly attract persistent, enduring users. Clearly the era of MySpace competing against Facebook has been over for some time, and they are rightly trying to strengthen their position as a music-centric social network, one of the few areas of competency for MySpace and a persistent limitation for Facebook. As a compliment to the behemoth that is Facebook, the new MySpace may have a chance. However, I just don't know if this new MySpace can escape the orbit of its brand baggage. During a marketing research class exercise, my undergraduate students (the exact people MySpace is looking to reach) most typically characterized MySpace as "outdated, "boring," "annoying," and "empty." Those are damning words for any social network. Time will tell if that baggage can be forgotten by consumers with this new overhaul.

Assuming consumers do utilize MySpace, then yes, advertisers will absolutely be interested. Music tastes and preferences are an enormously rich and telling characteristic of consumer wants, needs, and interests. By blending this rich music consumption data along with other typical user data captured by social networks, advertisers will likely see unique targeted advertising opportunities within MySpace. Even more, the new MySpace looks to be much better positioned to embed rich media advertisements naturally into the user experience. This is something brand managers want but is something that is currently limited in Facebook.

Q. Assuming that they are able to build up their active user base and monthly unique visitors, will Myspace be able to build a successful business using an ad-based model?

A. There are several ways to monetize a social network. Advertising is just one option, and one that can't be pushed too hard lest it undermine the user experience. Affiliate marketing (making money by selling other people's products through your web service) would seem to be a natural fit for many of the things the new MySpace wants to do. Selling digital music and tickets to concerts, for example. In addition, MySpace will also likely sell its user information to third parties. Again, this data may have some premium value in the marketplace because the new MySpace will have the unique asset of particularly detailed music consumption information about consumers.

Q. According to ComScore, the Specific Media has the third largest ad network on the web. If they can grab the number one spot, how might that affect their ability to attract more advertisers?

A. I can't speculate how their particular place in the rankings of online ad networks will affect their ability to attract advertisers. All the large players are of sufficient size that any major online advertiser will utilize them if the ad network provides a way to reach their audience. It is possible smaller, newer advertisers in the online space may be more attracted to Specific Media's network by virtue of it being more top of mind. As an anecdote, many small advertisers I know start with advertising through Google simply because that is the one they are already aware of.

Last comment – I was impressed that the new MySpace design is clearly positioned for the new tablet-centric user experience of the web (Windows 8, etc.). If other social networks are slower to fully adjust to the new way users will be interacting with their computers, this may be of some help to MySpace.

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