Want more Rock ‘n’ Roll with your social media?

Then watch this MySpace.

As Facebook opens up shop to 500 million users worldwide and rising, the once high-flying MySpace is receiving a more “Rock ‘n’ Roll” makeover in a bid to reinvent itself and attract more users back to the waning social media platform.

Australian traffic to MySpace has tanked by almost 50 per cent in the past year, and News Corp’s chief digital officer, Jon Miller, said MySpace’s new look and feel would appeal to a more youthful audience and put a premium on creativity and self-expression.

“A little more rock and roll,” Miller said.

“We are pregnant with product – it’s really starting to roll out over the course of the next few weeks and well into the fall, leading into a full relaunch of the service,” he said.

MySpace’s youthful demographic ploy may have merit, even in the face of its declining user numbers, as the average Facebook user age is estimated at 44.

In line with this, Miller said more emphasis, for example, would be placed on MySpace as a destination for casual gaming.

“MySpace is a gaming platform and should be a much bigger and better gaming platform,” he said.

Ultimately, users will seek a single social media platform that delivers the most content, greatest interactivity and user base. So it begs the question: is MySpace’s latest attempt to regain market share simply a misguided lash out by a fading social media player, or a savvy insight and investment into social media’s rapidly evolving future?