The new MySpace is almost here.
This time, News Corp. (FOX) isn't involved. Rather, a group of investors led by singer Justin Timberlake have designed a new social network that appears to be as visually intriguing as Pinterest but which requires -- wait for it -- either Facebook (NYSE: FB) or Twitter to gain entry.
Well, OK. We don't know for this for sure. But if the video promo at new.myspace.com is any indicator, the new MySpace is angling to populate the network with Facebook and Twitter data regarding who you're connected to, how, and what interests you might share.
Source: MySpace.
Yet this isn't a new strategy. My Motley Fool Rule Breakers teammate, Karl Thiel, and I witnessed many new apps at this year's South By Southwest Interactive conference built to log in either through Facebook or Google (GOOGL 10.21%). Location-aware apps Highlight and Glancee, which Facebook purchased in May, were two of the more popular. MySpace could be following a similar pattern.
Meanwhile, Facebook and Google aren't the only ones experimenting with integration. Apple's (AAPL 0.35%) iOS 6 makes it easier to share photos and videos via Facebook and Twitter, while its controversial Maps app uses Yelp (Nasdaq: YELP) data to highlight businesses found along your route.
Either way, there's irony in seeing Facebook play a role in resuscitating MySpace. The company chased MySpace for years before emerging as the world's top social network three years ago. By March 2011, News Corp. put in motion a plan to sell MySpace after the site incurred a $156 million operating loss the year prior.
Three months later, in June 2011, Timberlake and his investing partners would spend just $35 million for MySpace, or 6% of what News Corp. paid when it acquired the site and related properties for $580 million in 2005. Will the new MySpace make good? A lot depends on whether Timberlake's pitch appeals to Facebook and Twitter users:
