Ever since Owen Van Natta stepped down as CEO of MySpace last month, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding the future of the social networking site. Can it function with two co-presidents? Can it turn things around and restart its growth? Can it remake and re-imagine itself for today’s social web?

We know one thing: The company is building and implementing a new plan. As it focuses on becoming “pillars of broadcasting, discovery, self-expression, and making content a part of all those experiences,” it’s also looking to re-establish itself as a technology company that is ahead of the game in terms of innovation and talent.

To that end, MySpace is shifting its technical focus into smaller, more entrepreneurial teams and embracing a data-centric approach to building its platform and its organization. We had a chance to chat with MySpace CTO Alex Maghen about what to expect in the coming months.

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Can MySpace Return to Tech Prominence?

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In my first Social Analyst column, I argued that MySpace had become more of a content company than a technology company. After Facebook surpassed it as the world’s largest social network, the website floundered and the company slashed 30% of its staff.

It’s been a rough road since, but now the company’s finally trying to rebuild, starting with its technology and engineering talent. Mr. Maghen, the former CTO of MySpace Music before his promotion, told me that it wants to become a technology leader once again. To that end, MySpace is breaking the structure of the organization into smaller, more entrepreneurial teams that operate “with a higher degree of independence.” He believes that a single, unified product can and should come from multiple, smaller teams and technology platforms.

The goals Alex and the MySpace leadership have for its technology platform seem straightforward: to become more data-centric and to attract top-tier talent back to the social network. Here’s some more of what he told me:

“The focus is to put a new stress on bringing in the kind of developers that flourish in a startup environment and giving them a platform to work on that allows them to continue to develop with that kind of looser and more agile type of approach, with the tremendous scale we bring to the table.”

To that end, MySpace is looking to hire engineers with great knowledge of Internet development. More specifically, it’s looking for “hardcore data architects” and “experts in data development.”

If MySpace is to truly rebound, it has to be seen as a technology company as well as a content company. In order to do that, you need the kind of top-level talent that Facebook, Twitter and Google have. The company knows that it has been slower than its competitors, which is why the new overarching strategy for the technology group is “speed to market.”

As a proponent of the “Iterate Fast and Release Often” philosophy to engineering and entrepreneurship, I’m of the belief that the company’s new focus on speed and data is not only logical, but the best shot it has to returning to prominence. That’s not easy task, though, and the odds are stacked against MySpace.

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It Starts at the Top

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Today, MySpace is going to announce that it has hired Arvind Puri as its vice president of data platform to help lead MySpace’s new technology efforts. Mr. Puri was formerly the CTO of Buzznet/Buzzmedia, and before that worked on technology at the Los Angeles Times, Yahoo and Overture. He will be responsible for leading MySpace’s new data initiatives and helping transform that information into useful and actionable insights.

MySpace is also announcing a second hire: Tony Adam, who it snatched up from startup BillShrink to become its senior manager of online marketing. While at BillShrink, he was the director of search marketing.

Both will play a big role in the future of MySpace. The company is working on building a new artist website, a new movie experience, reputation badges, an overhauled user dashboard and even MySpace trending topics by summer 2010. If the company’s to succeed in launching all of these initiatives, it will have to be fast, agile and able to attract talent.

These changes are a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen if they will stick and, if they do, whether or not it will result in a renaissance for MySpace.

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Reviews: Facebook, Google, MySpace, Twitter

Tags: Arvind Puri, billshrink, myspace, tech, Tony Adam

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