The new MySpace was introduced on September 24, 2012, over a year after Justin Timberlake and Specific Media purchased MySpace for $35 million. This was a significant drop in price from when News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005.

Nevertheless, soon after the purchase Justin Timberlake said that he was already brainstorming new ideas for MySpace. These ideas included online video game partnerships with Zynga as well as a MySpace TV with Panasonic.

The best idea ironically turned out to be a website. More specifically, a new website, the new MySpace would become Timberlake’s main focus. After a few months of limited access teasers, the new MySpace has officially replaced the old MySpace with a large emphasis on unlimited free music and videos. We are not really sure how MySpace is able to offer unlimited free music, but as long as it stays free and unlimited, we don’t mind not knowing.

Currently, Facebook and Twitter sit atop the social throne and have no intention of giving it up. On the other hand, the “re-makers” of MySpace have opted to allow their users login with Facebook and Twitter. This is a pretty clear indicator that the new MySpace is not out to dethrone, but integrate with current social users.

Have you tried the new MySpace and do you like it? Does MySpace stand a chance against Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the numerous other existing social networks? Let us know in the comments below.

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Remember Myspace? The website that Facebook destroyed over the past few years? Apparently Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook team did not do enough to shut down their old competition. In fact, at the end of September in 2012, Justin Timberlake tweeted (ironic right) a link to a video detailing the “new” Myspace.

The new Myspace website first surfaced last year with a nifty welcoming page. Now, by creating an account or login in with Facebook or Twitter, you can try out the new Myspace. After signing up, you should receive an email soon after.

As far as design goes, the website is by far one of the best I have seen. The font is similar to that of Android’s Roboto, making it easy to read and aesthetically pleasing. As for the website itself, logging in with Facebook should say it all. Myspace is not here to reclaim its spot in social networking.

However, as I write this article, I am still on the new Myspace. The fact of the matter is, if you appreciate a good design and love music, the new Myspace could be for you. Somehow, the site manages to spit out free music of virtually every big artist. In essence, the main feature of the new Myspace is that it has virtually become a free Spotify.

Can you see yourself using Myspace while Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram rule the social industry? Do you see any value in a “new” Myspace? Let us know in the comments below.

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“We have scientifically demonstrated that you can, to some extent, use neuroimaging in a group of people to predict cultural popularity,” said Gregory Berns, a neuroeconomist and director of Emory’s Center for Neuropolicy.

In 2006, Berns’ lab selected 120 unknown songs from MySpace, all of them by musicians without recording contracts. A group of 27 teens aged 12 to 17 listened to the songs while their neural reactions were recorded through functional magnetic resolution imaging, which is a special MRI scan that measures neural activity. The data was originally collected to study how peer pressure affects teenagers’ opinions. It wasn’t until three years later that Berns realized the teenagers were onto something. While watching an episode of “American Idol” with his daughter, Berns recognized the cover of “Apologize” by One Republic as one of the songs used in the study.

The team then measured the sales figures of the songs from 2007 to 2010, and realized there was a correlation between the brain responses in the teenagers and the number of songs sold. The brain responses could predict about one-third of the songs that would eventually go on to sell more than 20,000 units. Also, around 90 per cent of the songs that drew a weak response from the neural reward center of the teens eventually sold fewer than 20,000 units.

Berns cautions the discovery has limitations. The majority of the songs used in the study ended up being total flops, and only three of the songs sold more than 500,000 units, which is considered a hit by industry standards. Most importantly, the study subjects were all teenagers. Can they really predict the next hit Justin Bieber song, when teens make up only about 20 percent of music buyers? And considering that the best selling songs of all time on iTunes are ditties such as “Tik Tok” by Kesha and “Boom Boom Pow” by the Black Eyed Peas, the more important question is: who’s buying this crap? I think that’s something Berns needs to investigate, aside from knowing if a teen will adopt Android or iPhone later in life.

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