This is interesting: Ross Levinsohn has told the BBC that MySpace is going to launch a UK version:
n an interview with the BBC News website, Mr Levinson said the first priority of the new site would be the UK music scene.
“Clearly the first place to go is music, so we will tap into the music scene,” he said.
“We’re already working in the US with CD:UK which is coming over to the US, to be called CD:USA, and we’re going to integrate bands from MySpace into that programme.
“We hope when we go back to the UK to tap into how successful that show is. Hopefully they’ll want to market through MySpace and we’ll tap into the local events scene, parties, clubs, artists, film makers, television producers, so I think it’s going to grow pretty rapidly.”
Mr Levinson said News Corporation would be using the other properties it owns in the UK such as The Sun and The Times newspapers and Sky Television to promote the UK version of MySpace.
He said the site was particularly attractive to advertisers because its users are overwhelmingly aged between 16 and 34 years old, an age bracket companies are keen to target.
This is interesting for two reasons. It’ll be fascinating to see how News Corp leverages its UK assets to promote the new site. But it’ll be equally fascinating to see what “localisation” will mean to News Corp. and to MySpace. In my experience, localising an existing US asset which already has a lot of UK users is tricky and occasionally frustrating, particularly if the US site is functionally richer than the UK one. Incentivising people to move from one platform to another is virtually impossible.
