Justin Timberlake Breathes New Life into MySpace

By Linda Ripoll

MySpace used to be the bastion of social networking during the beginning of the millennium. Everyone who was anyone had a MySpace page and there were millions of new unique visitors hopping onto the MySpace bandwagon every month. Fast forward several years and Facebook has completely overshadowed MySpace and has almost driven the site into total obscurity. Fortunately, there are forward-thinking investors like Justin Timberlake who are interested in revamping the social networking site. Timberlake holds a stake in Specific Media who acquired MySpace for $35 million dollars. According to a recent article on PCmag.com, Timberlake will be responsible for organizing and implementing new strategies that will take the social networking site to new levels:

"There's a need for a place where fans can go to interact with their favorite entertainers, listen to music, watch videos, share and discover cool stuff and just connect," Timberlake said in a statement. "MySpace has the potential to be that place. Art is inspired by people and vice versa, so there's a natural social component to entertainment."

Specific Media also has plans to create original digital shows, video content and music all through the MySpace platform. Timberlake will not be a figurehead or marketing tool for the revamp, he will be a hands-on investor. He will have an office in the Beverly Hills headquarters and a staff. Hopefully this new injection of money and creativity will bring the ailing brand back to life.