Myspace could challenge Facebook with unexpected comeback and VERY different approach to social media

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The new version wants to try something completely different, Myspace owners confirm

Myspace wants to make a comeback, according to the platform's owners, Tim and Chris Vanderhook. The brothers made the announcement in the documentary Myspace about the rise and fall of the social network.

During the film, the brothers said: "We still own Myspace. We are stewards of the Myspace brand at this point, and we are going to relaunch Myspace.

"We're just waiting for the right time to do it. And if that one doesn't work, we'll do it again."

Their pitch to return? An alternative to the algorithm-heavy feeds that dominate social media today, like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and TikTok, among others. Feeds that are designed via an algorithm often decide which posts appear and in what order. It uses your prior engagement, such as likes and comments, to prioritise what it thinks you'll like more — keeping you on the page to scroll for longer.

But the owners of Myspace want to literally put the control of social media back in your hands — rivalling what major firms like Meta — owner of Facebook and Instagram — have helped set the tone.

MySpace was the first social media platform to reach a worldwide audience — launched back in 2003, the brainchild of Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe.

It was a place where you could deck out your profile page with glittery backgrounds, embed your favourite song so it blasted the moment someone clicked on your page, and rank your best mates in a "Top Friends" list.

By 2008, the site had roughly 115 million people visiting every month, making it the most popular social network on the planet. It even outpaced Google in US web traffic at one point.

Then Facebook arrived and changed everything. Users migrated in droves, and by around 2010, MySpace had become little more than a digital relic of the early internet era — later bought by the Vanderhook brothers in 2011.

While the owners' ideas to reboot MySpace seem like they could be a step in the right direction for social media users, analysts seem hesitant.

Forrester principal analyst Kate Winick told CNBC that the buzz around MySpace fits a wider appetite for smaller, algorithm-free spaces like Substack and Discord. But she pointed out that the millennials who loved the original are now "busy midlife adults with careers and families."

However, Facebook's owner Meta has faced quite a bit of backlash in recent months, so the idea of bouncing back to the original global platform may not be so far off the mark.

Meta was just fined £421 million in a record child safety case, with the argument of deliberately designed algorithmic systems and other features to keep young users engaged.

Meta collects vast amounts of information about users, including interactions, interests, searches and activity, which can be used to personalise feeds and advertising across its platforms.

Critics question how much control people really have over this data and whether they fully understand how it is being used.

For instance, researchers recently revealed that Meta has enabled a controversial new setting that permits its social media platform to analyse your private camera roll without clear notification.

The new setting was reportedly switched on automatically for numerous users, who say they never received any alert or request for permission to start snooping on their complete camera roll.

This means Facebook may currently be processing images you've never intended to share online. That could include holiday snaps, family photos, screenshots and any other images saved on your device. It seems Meta is using the access to analyse and train its Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems.

On Instagram, end-to-end encryption has been ditched from the one-on-one messaging service. With end-to-end encryption gone, Meta will be able to search, scan, or read any text messages, pictures, videos, or voice notes sent via its messaging service.

This also extends to Meta's smart products such as its smart glasses, which have earned massive backlash over recent months.

The main reason stems from the built-in camera that can snap photos and shoot video. That means someone could potentially film or snap photos of you without you being aware. They've since been outlawed in courts across England and Wales in a bid to stamp out secret filming.

All that to say is the Vanderhook brothers could stand a chance if the revival moves forward.

The Vanderhook brothers know better than most how hard a revival can be. They bought MySpace in 2011 through their company Specific Media, now called Viant Technology, and poured resources into building what was meant to be an entirely new platform.

It didn't work. "It just became an onslaught of losses," the younger brother said in the documentary. "We lost a little over $150 million," the older brother added. He blamed the failure partly on the revolving door of management teams the platform had already been through before they took charge.

However, a major hurdle to consider is winning over Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who never experienced the original site.

More than 60% of TikTok's user base is made up of Gen Z, which is a platform that relies heavily on an algorithm model.

And more recent social media platforms that have arisen in recent years haven't seen the same success. Bluesky — launched in 2023 — lost around 40% of its daily active users within a year of its 2024 surge.

On the other hand, BeReal dropped from 20 million to roughly 16 million users after its pandemic-era peak.