Is MySpace on the comeback trail?

Think MySpace is dying a slow, torpid death? Think again. A new report from the New York Times suggests that the social network has turned its fortunes around and is actually growing again.

That’s fairly impressive given the position it was in when it was sold by Newscorp in June last year to Tim and Chris Vanderhook for just US$35-million.

A couple of months earlier, the social network had lost 10-million users and people were left wondering how Rupert Murdoch’s company had managed to so effectively bring down a property it had paid US$580-million for in 2008.

The two young investors, along with the singer and actor Justin Timberlake, decided to refocus MySpace as a music and entertainment hub, introducing a new music player along the way.

That decision appears to have paid off, with the NY Times reporting that the social network saw its first increase in monthly traffic in nearly a year.

This increased traffic has also seen an increase in the number of people signing up to the site.

“We went from zero signups per day to 40 000,” Chris Vanderhook, the company’s chief operating officer told the newspaper.

Vanderhook reportedly attributes this growth to the social network’s decision to integrate its offering with Facebook and Twitter.

It also has a massive music library — comprising some 42-million tracks — making it a viable competitor to the likes of Spotify and Rhapsody.

Its new, more focussed direction means that MySpace may never again compete with the likes of Twitter and Facebook in the social networking wars. It is, however, holding its own against some of the newer darlings in the space.

A recently released report from ComScore shows that MySpace actually gets more unique visits than the likes of Tumblr, Google+, and Pintrest.

The company is also investing heavily in emerging technologies and reportedly forged a partnership with Panasonic for MySpace TV, which will allow users to share and comment on music videos and TV shows.