Connecting Bristol » MySpace Calls For Reinforcements

MySpace Calls For Reinforcements

July 27, 2007 Posted by Matt in : Bristol, Community Media, Connecting SW Conference, Connecting Bristol , trackback

The big buzz at Montage is the battle between MySpace and Facebook. It’s heating up, and MySpace at least is taking a good look at its own troops, with the news this week that MySpace has put its six-figure PR account out to tender. The services of Freud Communications, retained since 2006, are no longer required, and MySpace is looking for an agency to provide a “full gamut” of PR services, according to the site’s director of corporate communications for Europe, Chris McCafferty.

MySpace has denied that the decision to refresh their PR provision has come about due to the pressure it faces from rival Facebook, who are rapidly gaining in popularity. Whilst MySpace still receives a greater number of hits than Facebook, this month Facebook has overtaken MySpace in the number of web searches of its name.

A recent article in the Guardian would have made worrying reading for MySpace – London has overtaken Toronto to become the biggest network on Facebook, with members listed in London now numbering 790,615, which is almost a twofold increase since May. Its userbase, growing at an overall rate of 3%, is growing by 6% a week in London.

Figures for the year to June show that the three main social networking sites have all seen huge growth, with MySpace recording the biggest audience -10.76 million unique users, an increase of 149% - but Facebook are fast catching up. Its UK traffic rose from just 268,000 unique users in June 2006 to 6.01 million in June 2007 – an increase of 2,143%

On the other hand, perhaps MySpace are to be believed when they say that their decision to put the PR account out to tender was “absolutely not” a response to Facebook’s increasing popularity: see this PR faux pas.