Post-Van Natta, what's next for MySpace?

One of the more anticipated panel sessions at the IAB's upcoming annual meeting in Carlsbad, Calif., was going to be the one called "All Together Now! The Next Wave Integration of Social Entertainment" on Feb. 22. It was to include none other than MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta, along with former top MTV digital sales exec Nada Stirratt, whom Van Natta brought on to serve as MySpace's chief revenue officer last year. That session got a whole lot more interesting once it was announced that Van Natta was leaving MySpace after just 10 months on the job. That's if it still happens. (Van Natta's name was quickly dropped from the agenda on Thursday.)

Wonder if the IAB has reached out to either of the newly named MySpace co-presidents, Mike Jones and Jason Hirschhorn, to take the stage in California. What a mess. We thought when News Corp. brought on ex-AOL exec Jonathan Miller to serve as CEO of digital media—and Miller brought Van Natta, who had his fingerprints all over Facebook—that MySpace had at least a fighting chance, despite losing virtually all cultural cachet over the past couple of years. According to the Los Angeles Times, Van Natta clashed with Miller during his short tenure, leading to his departure. Truthfully, it wasn't clear from the start why Miller brought on so many high-level execs to reshape the troubled social network. Now, you have to wonder how much confidence buyers will have in MySpace's entertainment-centric reinvention now that Van Natta is gone.

—Posted by Mike Shields