TECHPULSE Talk about social networking websites nowadays and most people will mention Facebook or Twitter. What about MySpace, the social networking website that was launched in 2003?

MySpace took off like a rocket and soon became the darling of social networking groupies, especially teenagers and musicians. It was riding on a wave and in less than three years, the website was among the top five websites in the world.

It caught the attention of media mogul Rupert Murdoch who bought it through News Corporation, the parent company of Fox Broadcasting and other media enterprises, for a cool US$580 million in 2005.

The following year saw the launching of the UK version of MySpace to tap into the music scene there. In no time, MySpace also expanded into China and other countries.

Around the same time when Murdoch bought MySpace, another social networking website was making headway and cutting into the marketplace in a big way. It was a time when social networking sites were sprouting left and right.

Facebook very impressive

Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room, became a dominant force and started to pose a serious threat to MySpace. Murdoch's acquisition had it good initially but now the Facebook challenge, and also Twitter's, is taking its toll of MySpace.

The rise of Facebook has been very impressive. "Facebooking" became a popular generic verb as more and more users sign up.

According to web data research firm comScore, MySpace's 130 million users were overtaken by Facebook's 150 million active users in April last year. Its report was based on monthly unique visitors. By June 2008, comScore reported that Facebook had garnered 132.1 million unique visitors with MySpace trailing at 117.6 million.

Alarm bells should be ringing for MySpace's top management if the latest report this month by web analytics firm Compete.com is any indication that the MySpace exodus is picking up pace this year and its future may be hanging in the balance.

The October numbers released by Compete.com show that MySpace's U.S. traffic has dropped from 55.6 million unique visitors in August to 50.2 million in September this year. That is about 20 per cent of its U.S. traffic being shed off since June.

A recent change in top management and some innovations have yet to produce results in arresting this decline. Web pundits are painting a bleak picture for MySpace's future based on the recent data that suggests the site is heading south - or is it a freefall?

According to social media blog Mashable, the continuation of MySpace's downward trend could see it completely fade away in terms of relevancy as a social networking site.

Conversely, it was revealed in September that Facebook had reached its milestone of 300 million users and it had started making money ahead of schedule, proving that a social networking site can be a viable business.

In his blog post, Zuckerberg said that the company has succeeded at building Facebook in a sustainable way. "This is important to us because it sets Facebook up to be a strong independent service for the long term," said the Harvard dropout.

So why are social networkers deserting MySpace in droves?

Take forever to load

There's a lesson to be learnt from MySpace. There have been comments that MySpace pages take forever to load. They look tacky. The average user is 15 and animated gifs seem to be the rage. Overall, there's too much noise going on at MySpace, giving the impression that quality is not the norm in this neck of the woods.

"MySpace is like the messy teenager's room whereas Facebook is where people will find their mum, cousins and friends hanging out. It's like a hub," brand consultant Phil Edelin of Wolff Olins told BBC News.

Detractors feel that the management does not do much to improve or maintain the site. MySpace didn't bother fixing problems faced by users until they realized it was hemorrhaging users who were packing up and moving to Facebook. In the end, it was a case of too little, too late.

Unlike MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are benefiting from the social media rush. They are now the top two social networking sites. In as far as social media is concerned, the consensus is that Facebook is the world's largest social network, while Twitter is regarded to be the hottest.

Would Rupert Murdoch contemplate on putting MySpace up for sale considering its popularity is losing ground to Facebook and Twitter?

* Freelance writer Mark Khoo writes about the blogging experience and keeps up-to-date with the currents on the World Wide Web. He blogs at TheNextPost.com