News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by venturebros on Friday April 29, 2011 @12:50AM (#2496384)
Make it 100% about music. Even with the tarnished name people still go their for music and I bet people would go back if it was more music focused.
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by mindcrime on Thursday April 28, 2011 @10:07PM (#2496068)
It's pretty damaged as a brand, so that's a tough call. The one area where they seemed to maintain some strength even as they were fading, was in the music area, so I'd probably try to do something there. Maybe drop everything else and focus on being the premier place for artists to interact with fans, sell music online, etc. If possible, maybe partner with the major labels for rights to sell digital tracks of mainstream artists, and then go heavy on music / artist discovery / recommendations, etc.
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by jeffool on Friday April 29, 2011 @06:32PM (#2499250)
Shut it down for a week. Reopen it as the indie iTunes (audio, video, games, whatever) Also, completely change the look, go for something far more uniform. I'm not against, say, user backgrounds and changing colors, but no animated gifs, no auto-start material, no changing layout.

You get basic functionality (private messages, mimicking "Wall" functionality calling it a "space," commenting on items/posts,) and can follow friends and artists. The space should show your friend's purchases (unless you check a "do not broadcast this purchase" box.) You should also be able to do public recommendations that show on all of your friend's spaces. "Jeff Warren recommends DJ Z-Trip's song "Kiss (Remix ft. Murs)!"

Every item you look at should include general ratings, friends ratings, and a list of friends (and artists you follow) who've suggested it.

As an artist, you can put up music, video, HQ images. They should undergo a cursory inspection (I'm sure there's software to match audio against known audio,) and then be uploaded to sell.

Bonus points if you want to do an "online library" akin to Amazon's Cloud Player. I'd also let you regulate people's ability to see your library (everyone, friends, no-on) on a per-item basis. Hide those guilty pleasure!

Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by ethank on Friday April 29, 2011 @01:50AM (#2496496)
Hire back Owen Van Natta and his team (including Eston Bond) and implement their new design in a modern programming framework.

Emphasize what Facebook lacks: - The ability to compartmentalize your networks according to personas rather than "lists" (i.e., different profile photos for different groups of people, etc)

- Have the service be an arbitrator of sorts between oauth providers

More than anything:

DO NOT TOUCH MUSIC

Let it go for now.

Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by noisebleed on Friday April 29, 2011 @03:12AM (#2496619)
Genuinely curious, what do you think a "modern programming framework" would change?
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by ethank on Friday April 29, 2011 @03:23PM (#2498646)
Agility and talent pool.
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by stevenj on Thursday April 28, 2011 @09:55PM (#2496047)
I think what Myspace needs most is a well-defined (and worthwhile) vision that its employees will want to work for, and that will also produce "what people want" (i.e. will make users happy).

I wouldn't do anything to it until I was sure I had that figured out.

Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by hparra on Tuesday May 03, 2011 @10:38PM (#2512569)
Do some research first: find out what type of person is actively using it and why. I may learn about something FB isn't doing... yet.
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by DevX101 on Thursday April 28, 2011 @10:59PM (#2496176)
I'm thinking apartment rentals
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by abbasmehdi on Friday April 29, 2011 @12:50AM (#2496385)
$100mm valuation makes no sense to me, but might to another.
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by abbasmehdi on Friday April 29, 2011 @02:47AM (#2496580)
And I was down-voted because? :)
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by bmm6o on Friday April 29, 2011 @04:25PM (#2498847)
Your response in no way answers the question "If you owned MySpace what would you do with it?"
Re:Ask HN: If you owned MySpace what would you do with it? by abbasmehdi on Friday April 29, 2011 @06:04PM (#2499177)
Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.