MySpace doc premieres at Hot Docs, social media is not the same, co-founder says

Does anyone remember MySpace? While the current crowd may have largely flocked to Twitter (even post-Elon buyout, we know you still keep tabs… we all do) and remained a Facebook user for… well, as long as these sites have been around, the early adopter to social media, MySpace, has failed to truly keep with the times. That said, at least ex-MTV boss, Van Toffler, believes it’s a story worth telling, as the ragged social media platform, now owned by News Corp, rose to fame in a documentary, which we’ll be preemptively calling MySpace.

Produced by Tommy Avallone, the doc hit the scene at the Hot Docs festival. The platform largely introduced, or at the very least, propped up many celebrities and influencers, like Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Jeffree Star, Kid Rock, and more.

Speaking to Deadline before MySpace took center stage at the festival, site co-creator, Chris DeWolfe, who launched the platform alongside Tom Anderson, expressed how he wanted a social platform that acted kinda like a virtual apartment — you’d have music in the background, signs of your closest friends, etc. He also asserted that his site had a certain “serendipity” to it that no other platform has or probably will replicate.

“It was social, it was a community, and you felt comfortable even talking to people you didn’t know, because you truly had something in common. It wasn’t a machine telling you to visit someone’s profile. You actually discovered it and felt like you had something in common.”