MySpace plans a massive comeback after 20 years

MySpace, the platform that introduced profile songs and the Top 8 friends list to a generation, is hinting at a revival, sparking conversations for the first time in years.

The excitement surrounds a new documentary titled “Myspace,” in which creators Tim and Chris Vanderhook unveil plans for a relaunch nearly 20 years after its original launch.

Founded by Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe in 2003, MySpace became the largest social networking site by 2008, boasting around 115 million monthly users. 

Its features included flashy, customizable profile pages with embedded music, along with “Tom,” everyone’s first friend. However, it was quickly overshadowed by Facebook and is often viewed as a relic from the early 2000s.

The Vanderhook brothers, who purchased MySpace for $35 million through their company Specific Media (now Viant Technology), appear in the documentary expressing their role as “stewards of the Myspace brand” while waiting for the right opportunity to make a comeback.

A previous attempt to relaunch in 2013 resulted in losses exceeding $150 million. According to Kate Winick, a principal analyst at Forrester, the renewed interest aligns with a broader trend favoring smaller platforms that rely less on algorithms, such as Substack and Discord.

However, she noted that MySpace’s main audience, now comprised of millennials, is “busy midlife adults” who may not be interested in returning. 

The key to success lies in appealing to Generation Z and Generation Alpha, rather than trying to win back millennials who did not support MySpace in their youth. 

Recent trends show dissatisfaction with similar platforms. For example, Bluesky saw a 40% decline in daily active users a year after a surge in 2024. Similarly, BeReal’s monthly active users dropped from 20 million to around 16 million following its rise during the pandemic.