“We’re never arrogant, we're always looking at the competition,” says DeWolfe. “But they have not been successful for a couple of reasons. The intent to socialize on a site like Yahoo! isn't really there because the brand doesn't necessarily stand for anything and there's no real voice to it.”
Since its inception, MySpace has had more than its fair share of critics. That, however, comes with the territory when dealing with dot-com startups. They say the site is just the latest in a long string of teen fad sites, including Friendster, Geocities, and Tripod. They say that once the fad has faded away, so too will the company. They also say that the statistics that show MySpace as being the third most popular website are unrealistic since many users spend all day on the site, thus boosting its traffic figures.
But DeWolfe and Anderson pay no matter. Instead, they are taking the criticism in stride and planning their next move. “A lot of people feel that those sites were much bigger than they were. Friendster had 1.5 million users,” says DeWolfe. “Last month in the US we had 54 million unique users. A lot of people have put their lives online and are using MySpace to manage their social lives. There was definitely a concern in the beginning that that could happen but if you have 100 friends and 99 of them are on MySpace you can't just go over to another website and expect them all to follow.”
So, what are DeWolfe and Anderson doing to ensure that they will still be around in the years to come? They are reaching out far and wide. “We’re only beginning to scratch the surface of where we can go,” says DeWolfe. “We plan to move into another 10 or 11 territories in the next year.”
But expanding into other countries, for DeWolfe and Anderson, does not just mean buying a different country’s domain extension and plopping their name in front of it. No, DeWolfe and Anderson understand that for each country they plan on entering, things are going to have to be a little bit different.
“The social platform is multi-local, not multinational,” says DeWolfe. “There are important local customs, such as the buying of gifts in Cyworld in Korea. MySpace is already localized in 18 countries. There will only be a few social networks in each country. We localize our product when we go into a new market.”
Immediate plans for MySpace’s future include expanding globally on the localized offshoots already established in the UK and Australia. Since the site was recently translated into German, the number of registrations has tripled. Exclusive Montreal musician video premieres, for instance, have also helped boost Canadian membership.
“We recognize that there are big differences in culture in all countries,” says DeWolfe. “For example, in Japan, they seem to be very interested in blogging in groups and sharing information by affinity groups, whereas in the U.S. it's more about the individual person and the friends that are around them.” DeWolfe and Anderson have even noticed differences between their Canadian and American members and have begun tailoring their sites accordingly.
“In every country we have a local management team on the ground that really understands the culture and customs and how people use the site,” says DeWolfe. “We just did that in January of this year, and our unique users have increased by 50 per cent.”
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Man, do I get tired of the question posed in the title of this post.
