Is this the beginning of the end for MySpace? Or the beginning of a new beginning that could revive the once-dominant social-networking site? Time will tell whether MySpace’s Mashup with Facebook will be a boon or a bust for the ailing company.
On Thursday, MySpace announced a new feature that lets its members port over their lives and interests. That means a MySpace user’s Facebook stream gets populated with entertainment content according to their preferences. MySpace members can also program their own streams based on recommendations and trending topics on MySpace and engage with fans who have similar interests.
“This new feature is a great illustration of our strategy around social entertainment and enabling the real-time stream,” said Mike Jones, CEO of MySpace. “The stream is one of our most popular features on MySpace, and it is now delivering an even richer entertainment experience of relevant content for our users to enjoy.”
MySpace Adds Facebook Like Button
Mashup with Facebook is an opt-in feature. To begin, MySpace members visit the home page and click on the Mashup with Facebook button. Clicking a few more preference options creates a basic MySpace profile that users can continue building based on information in their Facebook profile.
“Sharing entertainment and music interests is part of many of our friendships, online and off,” said Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships and platform marketing at Facebook. “MySpace is giving people an easy way to bring their favorite bands, celebrities and movies from Facebook to create a personalized experience on MySpace from the start.”
An algorithm on the back end matches Facebook “likes” and “interests” to relevant MySpace topic pages, profiles, video programming, and other content in entertainment categories such as music, celebrities, TV and movies. Tailored recommendations of new topic pages and profiles surface in real time to allow users to…