For nearly 2 years now, online and offline media has been obsessed with the success of MySpace, the social networking website that caters primarily to teenage and young adult demographics. Explanations for the phenomenal growth in traffic, page views per session, membership explosion and brandshare have been attributed to everything from the ugly design to the music industry affiliations to the youthful need for freedom of expresssion and the fact that Tom is everyone’s friend. My theory runs a bit simpler – kids want to have sex and MySpace delivers.
If this explanation seems a bit crass, let’s dive into some of the site’s statistics to get a background on the user base (courtesy of Mr. Rubel):
- 61 + million registered users with 21+ million unique visitors
- Splits 50.2% male, 49.8% female
- Primary age demographic is 16-34
- Attracts 220,000 new registrants daily
Take a journey back in time, to your teen years and try to recall the primary motivations and characteristics of your age group:
- Rebellion against authority
- Curiousity about sex
- Obsession with certain members of the opposite (or in some cases the same) gender
- Dangerously high levels of hormones blocking many logical functions
Now let’s look at what MySpace provides:
- A community with millions of members of the desired age, gender & characteristics, most likely seeking the same goals
- Easy, free access
- Relative levels of anonymity if desired
- Ability to share personal information and view the personal details of others
If you’re between the ages of 16 and 21, seeking an outlet for your hormones, MySpace offers a clear path to achieving those goals. Is it really any wonder that a user would jump through inordinate hoops, including poor design, horrific information architecture, a troublesome user experience and dificult-to-implement features if the potential gain includes a night of snogging with a pretty boy or girl?
I propose that MySpace succeeds not on the basis of marketing successfully, creating a great user experience, branding effectively or any other trait ascribed to it in the business and technology media. The source of their tremendous accomplishment relies instead on the value proposition offered to their users and the tenacity with which that goal will be pursued.
If I’m 17 years old and seeking someone with whom I can get together at the mall, kiss awkwardly and clamber into the back seat of mom’s station wagon, there’s no service (online or offline) that offers a better chance than MySpace.
With millions of incredibly passionate, motivated people all chasing this singular goal, is MySpace’s success any surprise at all?
