Why MySpace overtook Google as No. 1 U.S. web destination

Posted Jul 12th 2006 10:20AM by Brian White
Filed under: Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Internet, Google (GOOG)

Was Rupert Murdoch placing a large bet when he decided to purchase MySpace.com for $580 million? Sure he was -- but the media baron knew that having an outlet for online advertising and eyeballs was going to be a big business. Yes, the MySpace.com contingent is nothing short of amazing. So amazing, in fact, that MySpace.com became the No. 1 leading web destination in the U.S. just recently, passing such Internet stalwarts like Google and Yahoo!

Keep in mind that MySpace.com is frequented by kids and teens more than anyone -- and Google and Yahoo! are frequented by just about anyone with a web connection. That fact speaks to the heart of the "MySpace generation" -- those who are spending much (if not most) of their leisure and social time online. Are malls and other physical hangouts on the decline? Hard to say -- but MySpace.com and text messaging are changing the social strata of today's kids.

As much as 4.5% of all web visitor traffic was sent to MySpace.com last week, making the social portal the most popular web-based destination in the U.S. Forget all those business trips being booked on Priceline or Hotwire, or all the email being sent at Yahoo! Mail. MySpace.com trumped them all.

With Google receiving so much press lately with the flood of product releases it's had, can it learn from MySpace? It can -- and that lesson is: make a compelling and personalized portal and people will show up. The more customized a web destination is, the more people feel in-tune with what's there instead of a cold, non-personal visit. Information by itself is good, but personal relationships can sometimes be better.

Tags: GOOG, GOogle, MySpace, MySpace.com

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-12-2006 @ 11:31AM

Becky said...

MySpace has created more havoc, heartache and problems for some kids than anyone ever thought. They air their dirty laundry, spread rumors, make threats, talk trash, not realizing the consequences since it is not face to face. I think it's the downfall of the next generation.

7-12-2006 @ 12:47PM

Charles said...

This is comparing apples and oranges. Google is not a content company. Yahoo is more of a hybrid, but MySpace is purely content with advertising revenue derived solely from its own site. It's also browsing that is conducive to generating page views. If you go to google.com and it does it's job well, you'll likely be linked off to what you were looking for immediately.

On MySpace, you're going to sit and look through your friend's friends, or blow time looking at all the eye candy you can.

Google is a very different thing. I don't think I need to go into detail here.

A lot of the traffic google has their hands in is not figured into traffic "to google.com." There's the massive amount of AdWords spread throughout the Internet on countless other websites generating advertising revenue for google. There are numerous google applications which get their own traffic as well as traffic by being the back-end for 3rd party integration (i.e. the many applications that make use of google Maps.)

Tom got lucky with MySpace -- it caught on with the younger crowd and the music industry and took off, leaving friendster, and the rest of the social networking sites (which were around before MySpace) in the dust. Murdoch's got inertia in his favor right now. It's a fad. One day another network may come along with some nifty features, or a snazzier look and dethrone MySpace. It may be Google, or it may not, but I don't think it matters too much. Frankly, if Google started spending their time creating social networks and online dating sites, I'd be concerned.

Google is going to fundamentally change the online experience and the way we use our computers.