MySpace owner Rupert Murdoch this morning labeled social networking rival Facebook a “directory”.
Speaking at the Cannes International Advertising Festival, the News Corp chairman conceded that Facebook had gained ground on MySpace, but said that this process was now over.
Murdoch said: “Facebook is more of a directory. People come to MySpace and stay 30, 40, 50% longer than on Facebook. And it is a real social network. People go there to look for people with common interests rather than to send a message to people they know.
“We are so much bigger than Facebook in America. They’ve been flavour of the month in the last six months of last year, it was all Facebook, but we are going for them now.”
And News Corp COO Peter Chernin added: “They had a great six months and it really galvanized us. We owe a great debt to Facebook for bashing us over the head and getting our attention.” Chernin also predicted that Microsoft’s failed bid for Yahoo would not be the end of upheaval among the industry giants.
He said: “The search business is a Google dominated business, but we will see Microsoft throw whatever money it takes to compete.” He predicted that the search market could be thrown open by new models.
“Someone else could come along.” And he added: “Video search is incredibly nascent.”
