I’ve heard a lot of ad execs saying that Facebook won’t last. I think they’ll eat their words.
Jason Hirschhorn, the optimistic co-president of MySpace, thinks he can turn it around. In a recent article on the San Francisco Chronicle’s SFGate.com, Hirschhorn says both Nintendo and Apple reversed a downward course to get their companies moving again. So will MySpace be able to do the same? I don’t want to be a naysayer, but it will take a major breakthrough for them to turn that flagging (actually, we’re even past that) brand into something really valuable.
Strange Directions
In a strange comment, Hirschhorn attributes the turnarounds for Apple and Nintendo to ‘good design.’ That’s a particularly bad sign. Yes, Apple in particular is known for their way cool design. But they also happened to invent, and keep inventing, great products that fit beautifully into our lives. They market these products really well. They keep making great new ones. It’s not hard to figure out why they’re succeeding, but Hirschhorn seems to be missing it.
In the article, Hirschhorn lists several of the big changes that are coming to MySpace in their new launch this fall, code-named “Futura.” Guess what, they’re not new. They’re a re-hashing of other successful companies out there.
Facebook, on the other hand, is still innovating.
The F8 Conference was the platform for Facebook to point to several new innovations on the way. (See the PC Magazine post)
They’re partnering with Microsoft and Wikipedia. They’re launching Community Pages. They’re aiming to steal crowd-sourcing share from Digg with the new “Like” initiative. Their games continue to keep North America’s work force otherwise engaged. And this list is just scratching the surface.
In short, they’re taking over the world. Innovation is the key. Like Apple and Nintendo, they just never stop doing great things.
