MySpace recently rolled out a new service that connects people to local business listings.
Called MySpace Local this new service will include business listings throughout the 75,000 cities and neighborhoods that Citysearch’s local-online guide offers.
Social functions include ratings, reviews and recommendations through friends. Listings are grouped by cities and offer new local search functions. Users can search by neighborhood, small business categories, and cuisine type. In time, MySpace Local users will have an option to make reservations and upload photos and videos from experiences at venues.
One feature of MySpace Local that will help the bottom line is that MySpace has already received initial sponsorship from Outback Steakhouse and Coors. In addition businesses will have an option to use MySpace’s MyAds service to promote the pages. I wonder what Google thinks of this Google Adwords competitor?
Having a section of MySpace that appeals to advertisers is a big move for MySpace in its battle to attract advertisers. But MySpace is fighting an uphill battle to raise trust in the brand, according to IDC Research Analyst Caroline Dangson, who focused on social media. “The trust is greater for Facebook, in general, compared with MySpace,” she said, citing a recent IDC U.S. Online Consumer Attitude Survey that suggests people could have concerns. “There’s a culture on MySpace that’s different from Facebook.”
Meanwhile, Dangson said both MySpace and Citysearch benefit from the deal. MySpace gains the sales force that can support advertising for small- to-medium-sized businesses. Citysearch gains “the stickiness through a social network” to develop a user base they don’t typically attract.
Mobile is the one piece lacking that would make the deal more attractive, she said, adding: “We’re seeing more people use MySpace on mobile than Facebook.”
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This sounds good but I too would question the viability of placing advertising dollars in this genre of social networking. As mentioned, MySpace is different than Facebook for a number of reasons. But the most critical piece about MySpace is that people express themselves and appear to not be interested in affiliating with a particular offering or brand. Plus there’s a different focus on audience types. What works for Facebook will not work for MySpace. Its like crafting messages for print and expecting these messages to be used for radio messaging without any key puns associated with them.
That’s just my 2 cents.