Nearly two decades after its fortunes faded, MySpace may be heading for another act. Brothers Tim and Chris Vanderhook, who now own the once-ubiquitous social network, said they intend to bring it back with a fresh approach.
When MySpace debuted in 2003, it grew into one of the internet's largest social destinations. Users could personalize their pages, showcase songs, and rank their closest friends, and for a while that made it the leading social app until Facebook took over.
In 2008, the site and Facebook each drew roughly 115 million monthly visitors, but Facebook overtook MySpace in worldwide traffic that year and then moved ahead in unique U.S. visitors in 2009, a shift that cost MySpace its core audience. The rival's momentum only built from there, and by 2010 large numbers of MySpace users had left the platform for good.
Tom Anderson, who co-founded MySpace and was every new member's default first friend, sold the business in 2005, and he is not expected to take part in the Vanderhooks' project. Anderson's profile is still on MySpace, but he has not made a post in 13 years.
The company's history has been defined by repeated reinvention attempts. The brothers have said their group would have been the fifth leadership team. The site's decline stretched across years of ownership changes and turnaround efforts that never took hold. After Facebook took the lead, MySpace went through several waves of reinvention, and the Vanderhooks' earlier effort was only one of those attempts.
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In the documentary "Myspace," the brothers said they "built an entirely new Myspace," but it did not work out.
"We really tried to modernize it, but it was a different company at that point. It wasn't the same MySpace," Tim Vanderhook said.
"By that time, they had been through four other sets of management and CEOs. We were going to be the fifth ones, and I think that there were a lot of the people who were really just done," Chris said.
The Vanderhooks describe wanting to build an online space that avoids the algorithm-heavy feeds many people now associate with today's platforms.
"And if that one doesn't work, we'll do it again," Tim Vanderhook said.
Their persistence underscores how far the platform has fallen from its peak.
The site remains online today, though it is a distant echo of its former self. If the Vanderhooks succeed, it could become a quieter, less algorithm-driven alternative to today's networks. If not, the owners have said they will try again.
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