MySpace and Facebook declining?

According to the Wall Street Journal, there was a fairly sharp drop in MySpace and Facebook traffic in September. MySpace saw a 4% decrease in traffic and Facebook saw a whopping 12% decrease. Although Nielsen/Netratings says that it's probably seasonal, the article should serve as a warning signal to marketers that use the site. (There's also a video providing an explanation)

Users of the sites are complaining because they're getting  friend request from people they barely know or from 'marketers'. Apparently some companies are using bots to create friend requests in mass, resulting in a new type of spam.

I'm a proponent of the right brands setting up profiles. Some of my favorite are the X-men profile and Sprite's. There's nothing wrong with brands having a profile online, no one is forcing you to go to there page or become their friend.

The issue is when these brands start to aggressively 'push' their way to consumers who haven't necessarily expressed an interest. It's a good way to get on their black list, and, a good way to find bad publicity.

If we're going to keep this new media viable as an advertising platform, let's learn from what happened to email. Set up a profile, allow engagement, have friends, even incent them to come to you, just don't push your profile on them.

Comments

[MySpace Friend]

Yes it's necessary, yes MySpace is still here, and no, Facebook hasn't overtaken it. That said, a profile on the top sites isn't a mistake.