It seems MySpace’s lengthy drain-circle may be coming to a conclusion sooner rather than later.

I must admit, when I watched Kick-Ass earlier this week, the least believable part- not the jet pack or the little girl with The Bride-like reflexes- was the idea that there are still 16,000 people using the neolithic social networking service. But it seems us bloggers may have to find a new easy punchline, as MySpace is said to have “quarters” rather than “years” to reverse its decline before News Corp. pulls the plug on the ailing network.

During a call with “Wall Street analysts,” News Corp. COO Chase Carey confirmed that the service can’t go on bleeding money forever. USA Today quotes Carey’s on MySpace needing to put out or get out:

“We’ve been clear that MySpace is a problem,” Carey told Wall Street analysts in an earnings call. “The current losses are not acceptable or sustainable…”

But with traffic numbers that “are not going in the right direction,” Carey wants to see “a clear path to profitability” on a timetable measured “in quarters, not in years.”

MySpace hemorrhaged $156 million in Q3 of this year, up from $126 million in the same quarter in 2009.

Time running out for MySpace, ‘quarters… not years’ to turn fortunes around is a post from: The Inquisitr

In an effort to murder MySpace in cold blood create more of a rapport between Facebook Pages and third-party websites, Facebook has launched the “fan box.”

Aside from sounding vaguely obscene, the Fan Box is a widget for companies, bands and brands to embed on a site to promote Facebook Pages. Adding the function involves merely including a snippet of Javascript code on your site. Operating somewhat like that handy little “share” button, it lets site visitors fan your Facebook Page with one click. From Inside Facebook:

“Users can view the most recent posts from the Page, see a list of other fans (including their friends), and, most importantly, become a fan without leaving the site,” Facebook Product Manager Mark Kinsey says. “Additionally, if a user visits the site and isn’t logged in to Facebook, the user can log in and become a fan directly inline as well.”

In other words, users can authenticate themselves to the widget using Facebook Connect in order to become Facebook fans without leaving your page. Later, when logging into Facebook, fans will see your updates in their stream just as they would any other Page they had become a fan of inside Facebook.com.”

The new feature is doubtlessly of huge importance to musicians and companies who wish to leverage their social media following more effectively. But in the whole debate over whether Facebook has killed MySpace, the one redeeming value constantly cited to keep MySpace alive is “the music.” The last big story about MySpace was regarding massive layoffs. Will this function put the final nail in MySpace’s coffin?

Facebook launches “Fan Box” is a post from: The Inquisitr