MySpace Tests Audio Ads With TargetSpot

For most people, listening to music online is terribly convenient, and the occasional audio ad shouldn’t represent a deal breaker.  MySpace may be making a smart move, then, as it’s begun testing 30-second ads with help from an Internet radio advertising company called TargetSpot.

The end result isn’t too different from what fans of Yahoo Music or Pandora – or even regular radio listeners – are already used to.  MySpace members just have to tolerate a short ad, and then they’re free to continue on their figurative way, listening to a number of songs before getting stuck with another commercial.

That number of songs is quite large, too, with MySpace allowing people to progress through a playlist of 100 tunes between ads.  So even if MySpace becomes less generous in the future (and it probably will), the social network should have plenty of wiggle room before people begin to grow resentful.

A MySpace representative confirmed to David Kaplan, "We’re testing some new ad products and the response from our users has been positive."

The representative then encouraged more folks to weigh in, continuing, "As always, we’re interested in hearing feedback from our community and the advertising community as we roll out new functionality that creates the right balance between user experience and commerce."

Related Articles:

> Yahoo Music Gets Former Universal Exec As New Chief

> 15 Million People Have MySpace Mail Accounts

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MySpace, Chief Product Officer May Part Ways

A high-ranking MySpace executive might be ready to depart, according to a new report.  Rumor has it that Chief Product Officer Jason Hirschhorn, who’s been with the company for less than a year, is making his way towards the exit.

This story appears to deserve some heavy disclaimers; since it began to spread, Hirschhorn wrote on his MySpace page, "i love fiction," and classified his mood as "amused."

He also linked to a clip of Philip Seymour Hoffman lecturing about gossip (as Father Flynn in the movie Doubt) from both his MySpace and Twitter accounts.

Still, more than a few people have indicated that the exec is parting ways with MySpace.  Jason Kincaid, who’s generally quite reliable, reported last night, "Jason Hirschhorn will soon be leaving the company, we’ve heard from multiple sources."

Perhaps it’s just a later conjecture – "the real problem may have been a lack of chemistry between Hirschhorn and his fellow executives" – to which Hirschhorn objects.

Anyway, there’s no word on exactly when Hirschhorn could leave MySpace, or who will replace him as Chief Product Officer (a position reporting to CEO Owen Van Natta) if he does.

Related Articles:

> 15 Million People Have MySpace Mail Accounts

> MySpace Integrates Facebook Connect Into Website

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15 Million People Have MySpace Mail Accounts

Back in the summer MySpace launched its own email service called MySpace Mail. The company has now announced that it has surpassed 15 million accounts for that service.

"Adoption by our users has experienced phenomenal growth, well exceeding initial expectations," says MySpace’s Rajit Marwah. "At launch we set a goal of 10 million accounts created within a year – we knew we were on to something when we surpassed this goal in less than a quarter."

"What really makes MySpace Mail unique, and one reason why we think it has resonated so well with our users, is that it builds on your existing MySpace identity," he says. "We decided early on to automatically reserve our users’ vanity URLs for use as their MySpace Mail address. For example, since I had the URL myspace.com/rajit, the address rajit@myspace.com was already waiting for me when I created my MySpace Mail account. With an adoption rate upwards of 70%, vanity URLs were already one of the most popular features on MySpace, and leveraging them allowed users to maintain their identity on MySpace while enhancing this footprint beyond the MySpace network."

MySpace Mail MySpace Mail | MySpace Video

The ability to send and receive music and videos as attachments with MySpace Mail could be one of the main attractions to users. Music and videos are certainly a huge part of what draws many users to MySpace in the first place.

MySpace’s foray into email drew plenty of criticism, but with better than expected growth, MySpace doesn’t appear to have any regrets about it.

MySpace has also announced the beta launch of My Music 2.0, a hub where users can build and manage social playlists. More details about that can be read here.

Related Articles:

> 10 Reasons Social Media isn’t Replacing Email

> MySpace Mail Arrives

> MySpace Launches New Music Charts

MySpace Integrates Facebook Connect Into Website

Rumors of MySpace integrating Facebook Connect have circulated since October. And now it looks like they’re coming true: MySpace’s Fan Video site allows users to login with either MySpace or Facebook accounts.

The Fan Video site itself takes professional music videos and inserts your profile picture prominently. The site also features sharing capabilities to post the videos to MySpace, Facebook or Twitter. Additionally, you can create videos for your friends using their profile pictures, and you can choose these friends from your MySpace or Facebook friend lists (depending on which account you used to sign in).

Not a super-useful application (more fun than sheep throwing, I guess), but is this a harbinger of things to come for MySpace? Are they ready to concede the social networking arena to Facebook?

Side note here: although Facebook has eclipsed MySpace in terms of traffic, MySpace still edges out Facebook in ad revenue. So the race isn’t already lost. May be close, though.

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MySpace And WSJ Sending One User To Davos

MySpace, The Wall Street Journal, and the World Economic Forum, are giving a MySpace user the chance to be a citizen journalist at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.

The MySpace Citizen Journalist winner will be chosen by a panel of experts and will join the Davos press corps using MySpace to report on the conference news and interview world leaders about relevant issues. This year the contest is expanding to include entries from users in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The MySpace Citizen Journalist competition encourages users to upload videos explaining why they should be chosen as the special correspondent.

Applicants must explain why they deserve to report from the World Economic Forums’ Annual Meeting and answer one of the following questions:

Name two issues – one global and one local – in which you’ve been actively engaged over the past year. What have they taught you about your impact in the world?

Which country caught your attention most this year? What are the primary issues facing its citizens and how would you resolve them?

What pressing global issue has been underreported? Why is the international community neglecting the topic? How would you draw attention to mobilize support?

The MySpace Citizen Journalist winner will receive:

All expenses paid travel to/from Davos, Switzerland

Invitations to the Young Global Leaders opening conference and various media events

Attendance at private meetings with editors from The Wall Street Journal and News Corp executives

The opportunity to document the experience in written and video blogs on MySpace and The Wall Street Journal online

Syndication of their MySpace blog via WSJ.com

 

 

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