Some Social Media Sites That Ultimately Failed the Test

Social media sites fail for a variety of reasons.

Some grow outdated and are replaced by new, more user-friendly sites (such as Myspace being edged out by Facebook). Others fail to hit the right note with users from the start, such as the iTunes Ping service.

Whatever the reason for the failure, these sites can teach new social networks what not to do.

1. MySpace

Launched in 2003 and now owned by Specific Media Group and Justin Timberlake, MySpace had a promising start. The most-visited social networking site in the world from 2005 until early 2008, the site was edged out by Facebook in number of users.

MySpace suffered from several key problems. Its developers focused more on developing an advertising platform than a social one, and didn’t provide easy ways for users to connect with each other.

Timberlake and Specific Media launched a new beta version of the site in January 2013. The jury’s still out on whether the partnership will be able to save the ailing site.

They already had a misstep in early June: The developers deleted all user information from the classic site without warning (including personal emails and blog entries), creating a major outcry from users who lost several years’ worth of data.

2. ITunes Ping

A study in misunderstanding your users, iTunes Ping launched in 2010 and shut down just two years later. Meant to be a social network and music recommendation service all in one, Ping failed in several important areas.

First, while Facebook integration was part of the unveiling demo by Steve Jobs before the service launched, that integration was gone by the time users got their hands on it. With no easy integration with other social networks, Ping cut off an important means of sharing music.

Ping also had strict rules that put too many restraints on users’ experience; this, along with the fact that Facebook already made it easy to share music, sealed Ping’s fate.

3. Xanga

Launched as a book and music review site in 1999, Xanga soon morphed into a blogging platform. Users were given a “Xanga site,” which consisted of a blog, photoblog, videoblog, audioblog, a mini-blog called a “Pulse,” and a social networking profile.

More powerful and innovative blogging platforms such as Blogger and WordPress, along with the introduction of MySpace, took the wind out of Xanga’s sails, resulting in a steady decline in users over the past several years.

4. Friendster

Now a gaming site rising in popularity in Asia, Friendster started out as a social network. It preceded MySpace and Facebook, and was one of the first social media sites to reach more than a million members.

Unfortunately, Friendster suffered from slow loading times that frustrated users, and didn’t focus enough on sharing and connecting between users. When MySpace and Facebook entered the scene, Friendster’s users flocked to them (although the site remained popular in Asia).

Finally, in 2011 the network was re-launched as a social gaming site, still receiving most of its visitors from Asia.

This is just a sampling of the social networks that have come and gone. Those that have remained and flourished did so because they understood user needs — and the “social” aspect of social media.

Photo credit: wallblog.co.uk

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