14 DAY TRIAL // Ever since it was launched, MySpace has attracted more and more members and has improved the functions it offers to ensure a great user experience. Their latest innovation appeared in the form of a new button in the Nav Bar, which would enable users to switch the standard 'Full' view of the webpage to a new 'Lite' one, without displaying any of the well-known customizations or media in a profile.
When asked, the MySpace team confirmed that they had been silently experimenting with a 'Lite' view in the United States, and they explained that this new feature was aimed mainly towards users who could not have access to broadband connections, this being the case with most international members. This function has already been launched in India for a few days, and will be available to United States users this week, while the team intends to provide more international support in the near future.
Even from the beginning, the social website has striven to allow users to personalize their profiles adding media-rich content, but unfortunately there have been over-zealous users who repeatedly abused this feature. Currently, numerous MySpace members have chosen to enhance their profiles by inserting YouTube videos, audio playlists or slideshows – all these additions can be really hard to access for those with slow Internet connections, especially because a great part of these files need to be loaded from servers that cannot be managed by MySpace. Once the 'Lite' view will be fully released, this aspect will not be an issue anymore.
The new MySpace feature leaves out profile elements such as the sections 'About Me' and 'Who I’d Like To Meet', user comments and interests, as well as third-party apps. Even if at first glance it might seem like a lot of information is excluded, a profile would still display other personal data, such as current relationship status, buddies or status messages. The MySpace representatives have added that after Profile Lite will be available to everyone, it will also come with the site's music module (which should not require as much bandwidth as videos), thus removing any other media type. Also, the future releases are planned to enable users to choose exactly the profile boxes that will appear in their 'Lite' view.
Even though the 'Lite' profiles are aimed particularly at international or dial-up members, they will also allow people to explore MySpace data using a unified appearance, the same for everyone. This is an important aspect, taking into consideration that one of the main benefits Facebook brings when compared to MySpace is its structured interface, which does not permit much customization, though it still allows users to easily locate a friend's biography or their list of contacts, whereas this cannot always be said about MySpace. It is true that most MySpace users like this site exactly because it enables them to add movies or photos to their profiles, but others might feel the need to exclude this content. And finally, MySpace brings a feature that will keep only the essential information and exclude auxiliary one.