12 Aug MySpace Mail Gets a Makeover: What it could mean for brands
It’s no secret that online communication is a huge aspect of our lives, whether it be via IM, email, Skype, or any of the plethora of digital communicative services available now. Without IM, how would I chat with Olivia – she sits on the complete opposite side of the office! In fact, it seems like someone is more likely to ask for my Twitter name or my email address than they are to ask for my phone number. Sure, the Baby Boomer generation might frown upon the decline of more personal forms of communication, but before telephones and postal mail, there were stone tablets and chisels. It’s all in the name of convenience and accessibility.
MySpace seems to have finally recognized this well-established method of exchanging messages quickly and easily, as they’ve completely revamped MySpace Mail to now offer users a sleek new interface with greatly improved usability. So what exactly has the former King of Social Networks done to update its mail service? Could these changes help assert MySpace as a worthwhile outlet for brands to utilize to engage with consumers? Here’s a breakdown of some of the new features and what they could mean for the user experience.
New MySpace Mail Interface
Logging into my profile on Thursday, sorting through my MySpace messages was still a complete disaster. It was slow, clunky, aesthetically unappealing, and so on. Fast forward to Friday afternoon, I log in expecting to endure the same painful process of the past 6 years. Much to my surprise, I was greeted with something quite different:
The new interface is much more streamlined than the previous and is much more user-friendly. The search function is now more accessible and the ability to save, delete, move, and sort messages has improved tremendously. Now I might actually read my messages, as opposed to when I logged in and had to deal with this:
Old MySpace Inbox:
New Compose Message Window
Another key feature of the recently re-designed interface is the new “Compose” window. What used to be unsightly and difficult to use (hope you knew HTML) is now an easy-to-use WYSIWYG message box where users can compose a message similarly to composing an email in Gmail, Hotmail, etc., while still allowing an HTML option for users who prefer to format messages manually.
For users who are less HTML savvy, the old message composition format was much less user-friendly as it limited the functionality one could achieve when writing and sending messages.
Old MySpace Compose Message:
YourName@MySpace.com
Just a couple months ago, everyone was in an excited uproar about obtaining the perfect Facebook Vanity URL, especially brands, as this was finally an opportunity to secure an easy-to-find and remember Facebook presence. However, MySpace incorporated this functionality into the network, well, a while ago. This means that users who selected a MySpace user name a couple of years ago now have the option to set up a MySpace email account using that same user name, or they can select a new user name of their choice (if it’s available).
What It Could Mean for Brands
In the past year, a lot of social media marketing conversations have surrounded the explosion of Facebook and Twitter as the mediums of choice for brands. As Lisa pointed out, MySpace has instead proven to be a fierce contender within the rapidly growing world of digital music. Granted, a makeover and increased functionality for MySpace Mail and Message services might be too little, too late, but given the progress it’s making with the online music movement, these new and improved features could very well be a step in the right direction for brands and artists looking to reach a young, online-savvy, music loving demographic. Now there will be a legitimate and potentially useful method for contacting and communicating with your audience.
Have you checked out the new look of MySpace Mail? If so, do you think it’s going to be a useful functionality for brands and artists on MySpace to interact with their target audiences or fans? I’m curious to hear your thoughts so let me know in the comments.
