MySpace Gets Ready for a Facelift

Social networking giant MySpace has announced it plans to roll out a new site design beginning June 18, highlighting search, uncluttering pages...and aiming at adults.

Sure, social networking sites are a dime a dozen, and the various Bebos, Facebooks, LinkedIns, and iMeems of the world seem to rise and fade in popularity like previous generations’ obscure haircuts or oddly-named dances. But News Corps MySpace, for better or worse, has remained the 800-pound gorilla in the social networking world, claiming more than 100 million users and adding more than 300,000 new accounts every day.

Now, MySpace has announced it is launching a comprehensive site redesign aimed at uncluttering the site’s infamously noisy presentation and widen its appeal to Internet users who…might not be teenagers. “This is more than a face-lift; we’re changing the way people interact with the site and with brands,” the company said in a statement.

MySpace claims the redesign will entail the largest relaunch of any site of its size. Users will find not only a new home page, but enhanced navigation, profile tools, and an improved MySpaceTV video player. The company is also reworking the look and feel of its search capability—which has included making contributions to the Lucerne open source search engine.

According to an interview with the Associated Press, part of the motivation behind MySpace’s makeover is to help the service get past the perception that its a “kids-only” site littered with awful backgrounds and animated GIFs and present a cleaner, more consistent model for the site.

MySpace’s redesign is due to launch June 18.