In a move to streamline its site after years of cluttering its pages with distracting ads and features, MySpace announced a revamp of the site on October 27, shifting focus from people’s profiles and friends to the hottest trends in entertainment.

In the opinion of Jon Miller, the chief digital officer of MySpace’s owner News Corp, the slimming down attempt by MySpace, which has witnessed a 20 percent fall in visitors in the past two years, is a “dramatic remake.” Clearly, MySpace’s overhaul is aimed at luring back the users, especially those below 35 years, who have abandoned the site in favor of US’ most popular social network, Facebook.

The MySpace overhaul highlights that News Corp. has decided to give up competing head-to-head with Facebook; and take the site in a new direction in its endeavors to rejuvenate the brand. MySpace, which was once the hottest social network on the Web, has been overshadowed by Facebook, which has nearly half a billion registered users, as compared to MySpace’s 122 million users.

The revamped MySpace site essentially shifts social networking focus to “new visual identity and product features that put content center stage”, rather than mere discussions about the latest happenings in people’s lives, which only friends and families are interested in.

The revamped MySpace version is available in beta and the company intends rolling it out to users through the end of November. New MySpace users will be entered into the beta version.