“We started the company around the time that a lot of other social networking companies were starting up,” recalls DeWolfe. “But we saw that a lot of those companies had a very niche focus. We set out to create this next generation portal where we looked at the best social features around.”
MySpace might have over 200 million member accounts, but it also has its critics to be sure. Considering the popularity of the site and the number of people that use it on a daily basis, critics say that MySpace is considerably lacking in technological sophistication. From the site’s poor navigation system to its coding errors to its unappealing to the eye design, MySpace has become the target for criticism by Internet geeks around the world.
But founders DeWolfe and Anderson are not worried about it. “We get criticized by all the bloggers for the poor design of MySpace,” says DeWolfe. “But it’s worked out well. We intentionally kept it very simple.”
So, if they were not focused on making the site the best it could be technologically speaking, what were DeWolfe and Anderson focusing on? “We looked at how people live their lives,” says DeWolfe. “We didn’t get bogged down in creating the next new technology podcasting RSS thingamajiggy.”
DeWolfe and Anderson are the first to admit that their site won’t be winning any technical awards any time soon, but that is just fine with them. Their goal never was to create a site that had the most technological bells or whistles on it. Rather, they wanted to create a site that was both functional and fun to the people that they knew would use it –people like them.
DeWolfe and Anderson knew that people were not flocking to their site by the millions because of all the technological possibilities it offered. They were coming because the site offered the best elements from other websites, such as Evite and Craigslist. For the first time, all in one space, people could do everything they wanted, however they wanted. And they did not have to be a professional coder to do it. “We had classifieds, events, blogs, music,” says DeWolfe. “It definitely has its own voice. It’s a little bit edgy, it seems cool, it doesn’t seem overly produced.”
So, while surfing over to MySpace for the first time can be an overwhelming experience due to the lack of overall cohesiveness, Anderson came up with a solution: he would be everyone’s first “friend.” Now, as soon as someone becomes a new MySpace member, Anderson appears as their first friend, offering helpful advice about how to begin and design tips for how to get their profile started.
But not insisting on being the most advanced site out there does not mean that Anderson and DeWolfe are not concerned with offering new features to their members. To that end, they continue to tinker with digital photo and video possibilities, as well as a VoIP application to let members call each other.
Through it all, however, DeWolfe and Anderson are clear about one thing: their site does not cater to the coders. It was never meant to. Instead, it caters to people like them, people who just want a fun place to hang out with their friends and express themselves however they want.
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