Myspace is back. It even has a pre-launch page where you can put your email address. In case you need a desktop-focused social network for sharing cool things you like that isn’t already called Pinterest, this is the day you’ve been waiting for. You probably don’t, though.
In an earnest, all-caps tweet from newly minted social networking entrepreneur and onetime social network-themed movie starJustin Timberlake, Myspace unveiled its new demo video Monday.
The new Myspace prominently features Twitter and Facebook connect buttons, so it’s not going to try to compete on identity. Rather, it’s a more fully featured media-sharing site, retaining its focus on music with a built-in player, and it also seems to offer some basic “insights” to users about how people are interacting with posts.
In other words, it looks like a fancier Tumblr-Pinterest combo with close ties to the music business. It probably makes more sense to social media marketers than it will to anyone else. And the most mind-blowing part is that this design is clearly built for the desktop Web, a place the most compelling social software is already leaving behind.
It’s hard to comprehend why anybody is spending money on this – not to mention Justin Timberlake. Even Facebook – the last great desktop software company, as Tim Carmody likes to say – is going all in to become a mobile-focused company. It should be immediately clear to anyone investing in tech that mobile is where people spend their time and attention today. To launch a heavy desktop Web service right now seems totally tone-deaf.
