When the MySpace masses were kicked offline due to last week’s power outage, they shut down their computers and went outside for a change, right? Nope. They hit Google and started looking for skin.
First, they instant message all their friends to inform them of the outage, which leads to a temporary spike in MySpace market share as they all drop by to confirm that, yes, the site is down.
You’ve probably seen this phenomenon in the offline world as well. Try to open a locked door in a hallway where several people are meeting (for a class maybe). No matter how many see the previous person try and fail to open the door, there’s always another in line who has to try and open it too.
Though traffic to MySpace initially increased upon news of the outage, Tancer points out that market share of page views, usually 17 percent, plummeted, because, well, the site was down.
Now that it’s officially a day-ruining bummer, MySpacers turn to Google to fill the gaping MySpace void. Google experienced the greatest increase in market share during this time.
Tancer also notes that other categories receiving a noticeable increase in traffic on July 22 and 23 were dating and adult websites. And you thought Myspace was for friends and music!
Once wandering MySpace users finished, um, you know, whatever, they appear to have traveled to their backup dive, Facebook, which also experienced a significant lift in traffic.
What’s the lesson in all this? Nothing I can teach you with a clear conscience, so take from it what you will.
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