Actor, pop sensation and social media mogul Justin Timberlake has joined forces with Panasonic to help bring MySpace back into people's living rooms.
On Monday, January 9, one of the breaking stories at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the announcement of a service called MySpace TV that would allow some Panasonic televisions to be used in a manner similar to Facebook's Open Graph.
Much like the "frictionless sharing" in the latest version of Facebook, people who use MySpace TV will be able to see what their friends are watching and enjoy the same shows, music videos and other content while being able to post comments in real time.
The announcement was made at a Panasonic press conference featuring Timberlake, along with MySpace CEO Tim Vanderhook.
According to Dylan Tweney of VentureBeat, "Panasonic trotted out Justin Timberlake at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today to try and bring sexy back to the pioneering website known for social networking, band promotion and really bad web design, all while making Panasonic TVs more integrated into your social life.
"The partnership is potentially a reinvigorating shot in the arm for MySpace, whose revenues and membership numbers have been in steady decline for several years, as competing social networks Facebook and Twitter have surged ahead despite having a later start.
"MySpace is staking its reinvention on MySpace TV, a service that lets you chat with friends, share shows and internet videos, and discover what’s popular among other MySpace TV viewers — all on your TV, while watching the shows you love.
"'This is the evolution of one of our greatest inventions, the television,' said Timberlake, who started out in entertainment as a cast member of the Mickey Mouse Club, got famous as a member of boy band ‘N Sync and then went on to become a huge solo pop star in the early 2000s. Timberlake also invested an undisclosed amount in MySpace back in June 2011."
In a January 9 article, Samantha Murphy of Mashable gave a good overview of what to expect from the new service.
According to Murphy, "Available on the next generation of Panasonic VIERA ConnectT-enabled HDTVs, an app called MySpace TV will allow viewers to see what their MySpace friends are watching, and enable them to make comments through the TV set and via smartphone and tablet devices.
"The app will be available on Panasonic’s new HDTV line, as well as some devices created in 2010, via a software update.
"Early channels on MySpace TV will focus on music, and then expand to movies, news, sports and reality channels."
Tweney supplied some more details about how MySpace TV would work.
"The MySpace TV service will let you watch live TV while chatting with your friends on your laptop, tablet or the TV screen itself. … MySpace TV works together with an app, the MySpace Companion App, which helps you discover videos you might want to watch, share them with your friends, and make them play on your TV with a single button press," Tweney said.
It is somewhat unclear when MySpaceTV will be available. Murphy reported that the service is expected to launch in the first half of 2012. Tweney said it will debut this Spring.
A lot of young people in the Spokane area apparently still use MySpace for music sharing and social networking, but most people who could actually afford one of the Panasonic televisions that are compatible with this new service probably haven't been on MySpace in years. Could MySpace TV bring former users back into the fold?
Or would most people in the Spokane community be content with doing their social sharing on Facebook? The Open Graph already lets people do similar things with YouTube videos and other content without needing to upgrade to a nicer television.
In theory, being able to engage in social sharing activities while watching live television could be pretty fun. But one suspects that most Spokanites over the age of 30 wouldn't have much use for MySpaceTV. And anyone who hates being distracted during their favorite shows isn't going to see much benefit in the service.
But on the other hand, Justin Timberlake was in "The Social Network"... Maybe he is onto something here?
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