It’s no secret that MySpace, once high on every social media management guru’s list, has experienced a well-documented fall out of popularity. But the site might just have a comeback left in it, if Justin Timberlake has anything to say about it.
Last week, Timberlake, MySpace’s new co-owner, pulled an Ashton when he showed up at a press conference to tout the awesomeness that will be MySpace TV. In one of those churned-out celebrity endorsement speeches, JT told an audience last Wednesday, “We’re ready to take television and entertainment to the next step by upgrading it to the social networking experience. Why text or email your friends to talk about your favorite programs after they’ve aired when you could be sharing the experience with real-time interactivity from anywhere across the globe?”
The folks at GetGlue could argue that they already offer that kind of thing and Facebook devotees are most likely questioning the upgrade in the first place. But the ace up MySpace’s sleeve are the technological goodies to offer an immediate and communal experience that none of its competitors can top. MySpace TV will first draw on the site’s some 42 million songs and 100,000 music videos for programming and then branch out to produce reality and sports television with its partner Panasonic. Sounds like a new version of MTV — without the Snooki.
Timberlake promises MySpace will be the bridge between social networking and television.
“As the plot of your favorite drama unfolds, the joke of your favorite SNL character plays or even the last-second shot of your favorite team swishes the net, we’re giving you the opportunity to connect your friends to your moments as they’re actually occurring,” he adds. “This is the evolution of one of our greatest inventions, the television.”
Yet it remains to be seen if Timberlake (whose last hit record was popular right around the first time people cared about MySpace) and Panasonic can put the brand back on the map. What do you think, readers? Can MySpace pull a Cher and make a big comeback? Does the concept of social real-time television have real marketing possibilities? Tell us all about it in the comments section!
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