MySpace debuted a new homepage on Wednesday as part of a redesign that will be launched in phases through the fall. The new layout is concerned with four major areas in addition to the homepage, including easier navigation, a new profile editor, tabbed search and the new MySpace TV. (Source: techcrunch.com)

Possibly taking its inspiration from Google, the new MySpace homepage has simplified navigation with five links in the left hand corner (Home, Browse, Find People, Forums, Music and MySpace TV) and a drop-down menu to supply the new links. Part of the redesign will also be a more simplified layout for video, news etc. using a tabbed structure, the goal being to remove as much clutter as possible.

One of the major criticisms against MySpace, especially when compared with Facebook, has been its lack of a clean, clear interface. The company seems to have taken note of this and has been working with Adaptive Path to create a more user-friendly experience.

However, that doesn't seem to be the only reason. According to data from ComScore, 25% of Americans visit MySpace every month, 12% of all online minutes in the U.S. are spent on MySpace, the company signs up an average of 300, 000 new users daily and has a current membership of about 118 million.

Despite these positive growth numbers, however, MySpace's monetization strategy has been stagnating along with other social networks such as Facebook and Beebo. Part of the redesign then is not only to create a cleaner interface, but to increase the possible advertising space on the site. One example of increased advertising is the new homepage theme featuring the upcoming movie, The Dark Knight starring Christian Bale. (Source: nytimes.com)

So the new thinking at MySpace combines a business and user-friendly experience. Just in time too, according to another set of ComScore numbers: Facebook finally caught up to MySpace and the upstart social networking site is challenging MySpace as the most popular page of this kind in the world. (Source: techcrunch.com)