Needs must
Facebook's once direct rival, MySpace has been forced to axe almost half of its workforce.
The cuts come after the website repositioned itself as an entertainment network instead of a direct alternative to Facebook in a re-launch late last year.
The Telegraph reported that a statement from the firm read: "Today MySpace is implementing a significant organizational restructuring that will result in a 47 percent staff reduction across all divisions globally [which will] impact about 500 employees."
It is believed that the networking site employs around 1,000 people in the US and another 120 workers across based in London, Berlin and Sydney.
The UK branch of MySpace of around 50 people will reportedly be swallowed by Fox Networks (another News Corp-owned firm) as part of a new partnership, which means that Fox networks will now be responsible for UK sales and sponsorship of the UK part of the website. It is thought most of UK MySpace employees will leave the company despite the deal.
MySpace's chief exec, Mike Jones, told the newspaper: "Details about Australia and Germany are currently being finalized. MySpace will retain a core, dedicated international team to work with partners in order to ensure users, content partners and advertisers continue to be served."
This is reportedly not the first round of redundancies MySpace has seen in recent times, 400 jobs cut in the US and 300 internationally only last year, as speculation mounts that News Corp is looking to offload the network.
The Telegraph reported that an anonymous digital exec said: "MySpace lost $100 million in the first quarter last year. To get it back on track is going to require a massive investment - one which News Corporation it not prepared to make. It has many other priorities to put its money into. So instead, it needs to keep taking costs out of the business while it's still in its hands."
With talks of a sale afoot, New Corp's COO Chase Carey told The Telegraph a sale or partnership with companies like Yahoo and AOL were being considered .
He has apparently previously described MySpace's financial losses as ‘neither acceptable or sustainable' and while he has not disclosed a deadline for fixing or offloading the website he hinted ‘it's not years'.
However, it appears that MySpace has seen a bit of a ressurgence since going musically niche. Looking on the bright side, Jones reportedly said: "While it's still early days, the new Myspace is trending positively and the good news is we have already seen an uptick in returning and new users. Since the worldwide rollout of the new Myspace, there have been more than 3.3 million new profiles created."
Before MySpace repositioned itself as a ‘social entertainment destination' rather than an alternative to Facebook, it reportedly saw its UK monthly visitors halve in number to 3.3m (in July 2010).
According to The Daily Telegraph, Myspace is not the only social network to have to go niche to survive. Bebo is now apparently focusing on being a network where users can have more control over their profile.
The network's new chief exec, Adam Levin told the newspaper: "I think we can coexist really well with Facebook as Bebo is a platform now focused on self-expression. Not everyone wants to be on a platform where their Mum and Dad are members. It's all about reactivating the registered users, who will then tell new users to come and check out new tools and content we are putting on the site."
While Bebo reportedly has 117m registered users, just 12m are thought to be active.
Friend's Reunited is also in the middle of a shake-up driven by its new owners Brightsolid, while a social network called Path which limits a user's number of friends to 50 is set to launch this year as a more ‘personal' network than Facebook. But it will take time to see whether the public want ‘niche' networks.
