O contra-ataque do MySpace

O social networking site MySpace, propriedade do poderoso Rupert Murdoch, considera que finalmente encontrou um adversário à altura, o Facebook, e que é hora de contra-atacar.

O artigo
As Facebook takes off, MySpace strikes back
Facebook, Schmacebook. Rupert Murdoch's social-network play may be the template for the media company of the future, writes Fortune's David Kirkpatrick.
By David Kirkpatrick, Fortune senior editor
September 19 2007: 6:36 AM EDT

(Fortune Magazine) -- "Everyone believes all the b.s. press that says MySpace is done for and Facebook has passed us," moans Tom Anderson.
You may know Tom. He's president of MySpace. He may even be your "friend" - he's the first one that all of MySpace's 200 million-plus members got when they signed up. Normally he's low-key, but the subject of that other social-networking site has him a little worked up. "It's just ridiculous!"
"But you can't say that too much," gently interrupts his business partner, Chris DeWolfe, MySpace's CEO. "You sound defensive."
If there's a consensus in technology, it's that the next big thing after Google (Charts, Fortune 500) is social networking. People of all sorts are joining this new kind of website because you really can have more fun online - and sometimes even get more done - when you're doing it with others.
Now there's starting to be real money in the business, as every major consumer advertiser realizes that if you can engage effectively with these newly networked hordes, they become agents of your brand. Last year MySpace was on the lips of every teenager. Now Facebook is growing faster, is usurping the buzz, and thus has Tom Anderson tied into knots.

Facebook's plan to hook up the world
But defensiveness does not behoove executives who run a division of News Corp. (Charts, Fortune 500), Rupert Murdoch's consummately aggressive company - especially not when that division is the biggest player by far in an explosively expanding business like social networking.
It's easy to dismiss MySpace, with its unruly graphics, clunky navigation, and general sense of chaos. But the masses love it. MySpace is the most trafficked website in the U.S.: It registered 45 billion page views in July, according to comScore Media Metrix. Another research firm, Compete.com, calculates that Americans spend about 12% of all their Internet time there.
And apparently it's not just kids anymore - about half of its members are over 35. Murdoch bought MySpace in 2005 when it had $23 million in revenues; he recently told analysts that in the fiscal year beginning in July, it will take in $800 million, with a profit margin greater than 20%.
Of course, there's no telling whether MySpace's numbers will continue to kick butt. New competitors arise almost every day, and the site continues to be hammered by criticism of its privacy and safety practices. It's impossible to say for sure who's even going to be running the place a year from now: DeWolfe and Anderson are currently renegotiating their News Corp. contracts.
But chances are this operation will be around for a long time. In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb here: MySpace, Rupert Murdoch's four-year-old Internet plaything, may be the template for the media company of the future.

O gráfico

A citação

"If there's a consensus in technology, it's that the next big thing after Google is social networking."
- David Kirkpatrick, editor sénior da revista "Fortune"