MySpace could be saved by Throwback Thursday

MySpace was long thought to have been in decline but is steadily seeing users return — particularly on a Thursday, when social media users share old pictures of themselves.

The site is still visited by 50 million users a month, up 575% since last year, and its videos received over 300 million plays in November.

People that used the site during its mid-noughties heyday are slowly returning to the site, with Thursdays proving particularly popular, reports the Wall Street Journal. On Thursdays, social media users on a number of sites including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram post old pictures of themselves, tagging them “Throwback Thursdays” or #TBT.

“MySpace was an early photo-sharing platform,” Tim Vanderhook, CEO of the parent company of MySpace’s owner, told the WSJ. “So we still see a lot of people coming back to access old photos. They may not visit every day but they come back once a week or once a month.”

The site is also finding increasing use by 17-25 year olds — one of advertisers favourite demographics — looking for music and entertainment. MySpace re-invented itself as a musical social network in 2012, after it was bought from News International for just $35 million in 2011.

That has allowed it to catch on with younger audiences, according to the Journal, who head there for music as well as the video content that’s on there. MySpace features original content as well as ads from brands such as Jeep.