Myspace tries to save itself

Article: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/media/article/myspace-launches-platform-developers_465016_15.html

The Myspace vs. Facebook war has been going on for some time now. I believe Facebook was around first, then Myspace came along and its popularity skyrocketed. Nowadays, however, Myspace is declining in popularity and Facebook seems to be taking over. I know many people who have accounts at both sites, and many that have deleted their Myspace altogether and switched to Facebook.

Some say this is partly due to Facebook's application feature that allows users to develop and share custom applications for use on their profiles. Applications range from quizzes (e.g. "Which celebrity are you most like?") to games (e.g. Oregon Trail) to personal databases of movies you've recently seen, which you can share with friends and review together.

Now Myspace is trying to get in on the action in attempts to gain back its market share. It has launched a platform for developers to create applications similar to those on Facebook.

Will applications save Myspace? Probably not. Myspace has gotten a bad rep for all the child abductions or harassment it has brought on, as well as annoying spam in mailboxes, hackers that steal users' passwords and leave malicious comments on their friends' pages, and malicious pages that put viruses on your computer. Facebook has not had much of a problem with any of these things. Myspace apps will also open the door for more security threats, as the apps are allowed access to your profile information. I could see a skilled hacker developing some application that looks innocent, but collects personal information from anyone who uses it. Or even worse, an application that allows the developer to hack into Myspace's database and steal even more confidential information.

I myself do not use many applications on Facebook. I find that they clutter your page when you have too many, which gets annoying. Also, many applications require you to forward a message to your friends (soliciting them to also sign up for the application) in order to "install" it on your page. Getting 10 of these requests per day in my Facebook mailbox gets rather annoying, and I usually end up rejecting all of them not because I'm uninterested in the app, but mostly because I'm annoyed by all the requests. It's technically not spam, since you can only receive them from your friends, but it's annoying nevertheless.

In my opinion, applications are not the real cause for Facebook's rising popularity and Myspace's gradual demise. I can't quite put my finger on a particular reason, maybe it's a combo of many things. All I know is, Myspace needs to do much more than this if it wants to win the war.