MySpace memories are flooding back for mid-2000s netizens with the discovery of SpaceHey—a website designed to recapture the feel of early social media platforms.
SpaceHey, which was launched in November last year by German lifestyle company tibush, has recently seen a boom in popularity with its number of registered users rising from 150,000 last month to 200,000 on Thursday, according to SpaceHey's Twitter account.
The rush of attention has weighed on the site's servers, prompting its developer to move the site over to completely new infrastructure last month.
SpaceHey doesn't explicitly state that it is a MySpace clone, nor is it affiliated with it. But it does say that it aims to resurrect "all the things you missed most about social networks" and "has no algorithms, no tracking, and no personalized ads."
It also captures the mid-2000s internet aesthetic; no curved edges, no "stories," and bare-bones text stylization.
What's likely to draw nostalgic users in is that the site allows people to add a custom HTML and CSS code to their profile, meaning users can heavily customize the look and feel of their pages, as it was with MySpace.
"Will the code for the Fall Out Boy layouts I made for MySpace work on SpaceHey, though?" asked one Twitter user.
"If I can add a song to my profile, I will never log into Facebook again," wrote another.
Will the code for all the Fall Out Boy layouts I made for MySpace work on Spacehey, though?
— Mick Rouse (@mickrouse) November 12, 2021
Others joked about a return to the drama of MySpace's Top 8 lists—a profile section in which people could display their top eight favorite friends. It ended up becoming a meme because of the arguments it would cause.
who’s got a SpaceHey, and does it have a top 8/music when you join
— 𝐤𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐚 ⛓ 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐰 (@afroxvx) November 12, 2021
The original MySpace was once one of the world's most popular websites, noted for its adoption by alternative subcultures. Today it has largely fallen off the map, although it is still technically active with a complete redesign.
The site experienced a rapid decline in the early 2010s due to competition from Facebook, and it went through a number of acquisitions.
SpaceHey was launched and is currently maintained by someone called An, who describes themselves as a 19-year-old student and software developer from Germany. They are the co-founder of tibush labs, the software wing of tibush.
In a blog post, An stated that the SpaceHey project has been funded over the past few months solely by the SpaceHey online shop.
In an interview with Vice in February this year, An said they had never actually used MySpace themselves and instead relied on internet records and their older friends to learn more about it.
"I came to the conclusion that you can't find something like this nowadays, where everyone can be this creative," they added.
