MySpace is searching to fill its top corporate communications post following a high-profile departure last month as the social network works to woo back disgruntled users of rival Facebook.
The News Corporation-owned social network, based in Los Angeles, is looking for a pro with eight to 10 years of experience to fill the senior VP post, which oversees a team of 10, in addition to its PR agencies, which include Weber Shandwick.
VP Dani Dudeck left the company last month for Zynga, which develops applications popular on Facebook.
The top PR slot vacancy comes as MySpace works to capitalize on a backlash against Facebook over that dominant social network’s privacy policies. While Facebook has been bombarded with criticism in recent weeks, an online movement has slated May 31 for a mass exodus from Facebook in protest over its use of personal data.
MySpace this week announced it would streamline its privacy settings to enable users to protect information with a single option – a move to gain back users it lost amid Facebook’s rapid rise.
“MySpace’s core value of allowing self-expression and representation of yourself remains true, without the fear that your unique contribution to MySpace will be unknowingly used for an alternative purpose,” MySpace co-president Mike Jones said in a blog post Monday in an apparent swipe at Facebook.
And a public backlash isn’t Facebook’s only problem. The Wall Street Journal reported today that regulators are also eying the network. “The company can't afford not to act,” wrote the Journal’s Jessica Vascellaro. “The Federal Trade Commission is taking a close look at how online social networks are using people's data, and people close to the matter say it is increasingly focused on Facebook.”
MySpace, which revamped this year to focus more on entertainment and gaming, was the top social network and still growing when News Corp. bought it for $580M in 2006. Facebook surpassed its user base in April 2008.
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