By Neil Vidyarthi on July 16, 2010 3:00 PM

MySpace Tests New Layout and It's Very… Familiar

myspacedudeslogo MySpace is still kicking folks. I can only think of one of about 30 friends that are still using the service as it has slowly and methodically been kicked in the groin by Facebook, and I’ve included the Alexa chart of the page views battle between the sites below, and it is not pretty,. That said, they are still innovating and pushing forward. They’ve introduced a new design for their profiles, and are hoping to use it to retain more users. I take a look after the jump.

The new profile is shown below, and is definitely reminiscent of Facebook. They’ve taken a lot of the ideas, like the stream, the “people you may know” and the status update box and made them all prominent features of the site. There’s no doubt that this is a cleaner, easier to navigate interface, but is that just because it looks similar to our social network of choice, Facebook? There doesn’t seem to be much on here that takes a step beyond Facebook, and when MySpace is in a defensive position and losing traffic as they are, they need to be doing more than just coming up to par with their aggressive competitor.

myspacenewlayout

In terms of pure aesthetics, I will say that I enjoy the boxed style of the new layout. Each area seems very distinct and easy to understand, and the fonts, colors and titles are actually more appealing than Facebook to me. The toolbar at the top that contains all of my navigation options is also well implemented, and I have yet to worry about how to find what I’m looking for. Check it out for yourself at MySpace.com and let us know what you think. Will this be enough to regain MySpace’s former glory?

alexamyspacevsfacebook

Above is the chart demonstrating how since the middle of 2008, Facebook has been absolutely rocketing in page views while MySpace has been dropping steadily. What was once a close race is now a categorical differential. Will MySpace be able to pick up the pace?