Linda Nelson

Is MySpace in Danger of Fading into the Sunset?

If MySpace wants to win back all the filmmakers that have abandonned it's site, they need to treat filmmakers as well as they treat musicians. You can't even find indie filmmakers on MySpace because they are buried three menu layers down. Who's bright idea was that? Every filmmaker I know has migrated to Facebook that really embraces real relationships between companies and the community.

MySpace is just a different animal and was like a playground for people to make fantasy identities. You never really know who you're dealing with. How can a business hypertarget a fake demographic? Facebook encourages real people to make real profiles and deal with real businesses and this makes for a differenty type of social media experience.

There was a time when we didn't have a choice, there was only MySpace and we worked hard to build up a sizable database of "friends", but once there was a choice to build a real community and engage with that community, the game changed. I still use MySpace and think they are trying to adapt, but right now, my advertising dollars are going to go to Facebook, where I know who's going to see my ads.

I still think MySpace is fine for music, as they really push music and musicians, but it would take a major overhaul for MySpace to get the filmmakers (and their followers) back. Also, Facebook is a lot more appealing to a wider demographic - even people's Grandmothers are active users. They would never go near MySpace. It is what it is and maybe MySpace will have to be happy with a young, music oriented crowd - it works for that.

Top 10 Video, Multimedia Websites: January 2009

The domination of YouTube is amazing! Finding ways to leverage that domination is key to our future film marketing.