According to IOL, social networking portal MySpace announced that it will be undergoing a hefty redesign this year.

MySpace was the initial spark behind the social networking revolution, boasting far greater traffic than its competitors while in its prime. But these days the site has taken a backseat to Facebook and its phenomenal 500 million user army.

News Corporation. chief digital officer, Jon Miller, said that MySpace did still have a large userbase. “It’s still around; the site attracts around 65 million to 70 million unique users a month in the United States alone.”

News Corporation currently owns a majority stake in MySpace.

Since the meteoric rise of Facebook, MySpace has positioned itself to be a platform for musicians and their followers, as well as giving users a youthful and creative environment for self-expression.

Compared to Facebook’s standard layout and design throughout, MySpace allows users to customize a little ‘slice’ of the internet, changing themes and colours and even having your favourite songs play in the background as friends browse your profile.

Miller said the idea for MySpace now was to become, “a little more rock and roll.” He stated that the company has a lot of new features to introduce and they would start rolling out improvements over the next few weeks, with a full relaunch of the site scheduled for the fall.

The site will feature a new look and feel and will cater for a number of new user groups. For example, Miller stated that they would put emphasis on making the site casual gamer friendly.