From the “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic file”: The new MySpace exec team has promised changes (”we have…laid the groundwork for an exciting new chapter of innovation for MySpace”). And they’re delivering. A couple of hours ago they changed the MySpace logo. No longer does it say “MySpace.com - A Place For Friends.” Now it simply says MySpace. The old logo is below.

We’ve confirmed that the change just occurred this evening, although MySpace PR is as usual not responding. They refuse to confirm that the logo is new, or say why they changed it. It sure is absurd to have a conversation that goes something like “So it looks like you’ve changed your logo this evening? No Comment. Uh huh. Ok, so any official reason why you changed it? No comment.” Trade secrets, I guess. And heck, I’m just happy someone still works there to pick up the phone.

MySpace is also on the warpath to get more users. At login they now strongly suggest you log into your email and invite friends (hopefully they’ll avoid turning this too spammy). And they’ve also added a “people you may know widget” that shows friends of friends.

We’re also hearing that MySpace will be removing some of the ugliest ad units that adorn the site today. Whether that’s an effort to clean up the user interface or simply a sign of slowing ad sales, we’ll probably never know.

Around this time last year we saw a stream of high ranking employees leaving Yahoo as the web portal reached new lows following the fumbled Microsoft deal. Now, we’re beginning to see a similar trend from MySpace, the once-shining social network that has been recently hit by stagnating growth, waves of layoffs (both in the US and abroad), and the ousting of its co-founder CEO. The latest member of the executive team to leave is SVP Engineering Allen Hurff, who annouced his decision to leave the company on Friday. A tweet he sent out that day confirms his departure.

Hurff was with the company for over four years, where he and former SVP Operations Jim Benedetto were largely reponsible for building up MySpace’s technology team (Benedetto left the company in March). Hurff also played an integral role in MySpace’s adoption of OpenSocial, serving as Chairman of the foundation. The OpenSocial platform, which allows for the integration of third party applications in MySpace, will likely play a key role in the site’s success moving forward, so this is a big loss for the social network.

When you’ve just gotten laid off, the last thing you want to hear is that you can’t cash your last check because of one final payroll screwup. But that’s apparently exactly what’s going on over at MySpace, which laid off over 30% of its staff (or around 480 employees) earlier this month. The company has just asked many of its laid off employees to refrain from cashing their checks due to an error in calculating how much they should be receiving. Employees are getting voicemails from FIM notifying them that the company has issued a stop payment on their checks, and that they can expect an updated check next week.

This isn’t the company’s only blunder during this sensitive time. We’ve heard that that last day for the terminated MySpace employees was chaotic and poorly planned, and that the company hasn’t been very tactful regarding treatment of laid off employees. In the press release announcing the layoffs, CEO Owen Van Natta called the company “bloated”, displaying a surprising lack of respect towards the terminated workers. It gets worse: MySpace has been holding a number of meetings for staff who are still at the company, during which they’ve referred to the recently terminated employees as “fat”. Unfortunately, some of these “fatty” employees have been present at these very meetings — the company has kept a number of terminated employees onboard through the duration of their contract, creating a group of so-called “walking dead” who are being insulted to their faces. Classy.

The influential Article 29 Working Party, an independent European advisory body on data protection and privacy to the EC, has argued that social networks like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace need more regulation to ensure that personal data of their respective users is not put at risk. Even though the majority of sites that the report mentions are based in the United States, the group states their large presence in Europe means that they should be subject to European Union privacy and data protection legislation.

This isn’t exactly news, since the FT wrote about the report last week when it was still unpublished. It is now, and I’ve embedded it below.

MySpace had a serious secret weapon when it came to fighting the bad guys - Director of Security Enforcement E.J. Hilbert. Hilbert, a former Cyber and Counterterrorism Special Agent for the FBI, defended MySpace against spammers, scammers, hackers, virus spreaders and other lowlife from 2007 until earlier this month when he left the company.

Our understanding is that he resigned, and was not part of the mass layoffs last week. Either way, it was a real loss for MySpace.

This morning, when MySpace announced the decimation of its international staff (300 out of 450 non-US staff will be let go), CEO Owen Van Natta pinpointed the global offices he considers dispensable. He released a statement saying that while the London, Berlin and Sydney offices will be preserved, MySpace will look to “restructure” the offices in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, and Spain and plans to close four offices all together.

Considering Facebook’s massive growth both internationally and now in the U.S., we thought it would be instructive to compare the number of unique visitors to Facebook and MySpace in each of the countries which MySpace has identified for layoffs and restructuring. All together, the countries account for only about 15 percent of MySpace’s global unique visitors (see chart at right). But more tellingly, in practically every single country where layoffs are coming, Facebook has already won.

MySpace is planning to lay off 300 of its 450 non-U.S. employees, it announced this morning, confirming our earlier report. Just one person in three gets to keep his or her job. The company has now announced that over 700 of it’s 1,800 total employees have been or will be laid off - 30% of U.S. staff last week, and 66% of non-U.S. staff today.

The company will not confirm whether Managing Director Travis Katz is still with the company (we reported earlier this evening that he has left the company). Update: sources at MySpace are saying that Katz will remain with MySpace and that “his role hasn’t changed.” The company will still not respond to an on-the-record request for comment about Katz.

TechCrunch Europe has the press release and email from MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta to what’s left of staff.

The company also says that it will close “at least 4 of its offices outside the United States,” adding “Upon completion of the proposed plan, London, Berlin, and Sydney would become the primary regional hubs for MySpace’s international operations. Under the proposed plan, MySpace would place all existing offices in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, and Spain under review for possible restructure. MySpace China, a locally owned, operated, and managed company, and MySpace’s joint venture in Japan would not be affected by the proposed plan.”

The email to employees notes absurdly that the “restructuring steps we have taken have laid the groundwork for an exciting new chapter of innovation for MySpace” (with nearly half of MySpace staff now laid off, the few that are left are thinking about everything except innovation). He also says “I look forward to working with you all and speaking with you in the coming days.” I’m sure he’ll get something less than a warm reception.

The full email is below.

Update: MySpace sources now say Katz may still be at the company, although 2/3 of international staff will be terminated.

More bad news at MySpace. As we await what are likely to be significant cuts in MySpace’s international headcount, MySpace International managing director Travis Katz is out, we’ve heard from a source in the UK. MediaWeek is also reporting this.

Katz joined MySpace in early 2006 as Vice President International, taking a SVP and Managing Director title in October 2006. He is responsible for all non-US operations for MySpace, IGN and other Fox Interactive Media properties. He grew staff from 2 to more than 400 in a span of 2 years.

How many of those 400 international employees will shortly be following? We’ll likely know soon. International employees were spared from the 30% layoffs last week due to legal requirements for notice in some countries, particularly in Europe. But the clock is still ticking on those employees.

Four days ago MySpace announced they were laying off 30% of their staff in the U.S. and promptly sent 400 employees packing. The announcement stated that the layoffs only applied to U.S. employees. That strongly indicated that the next up for termination were over 100 of its international employees, as it has almost 30 offices around the world MySpace in Europe covers 19 territories via 6 offices.

Now we’re hearing from employees inside MySpace’s offices in Europe, who paint a black picture of hushed meetings between management, PR and HR teams. We’ve been told that MySpace PR people in London burnt candles late into last night, going over how to announce the re-structuring of MySpace internationally. Needless to say, requests for “recommendations” on LinkedIn between MySpace staff in Europe have soared, and we’ve even heard that estate agents have visited the expansive London offices, which suggests major downsizing there as well.

MySpace announced 30% layoffs today and showed more than 400 employees the door. Near the end of the day the company stopped doing terminations individually, say employees, and called 10 or more of them to a conference room at a time for a quick firing. One good thing - every employee got at least 60 days pay. It wasn’t generosity, though. The WARN Act in California requires 60 days notice for mass layoffs, and this is how parent company News Corp. got around giving notice.

But MySpace isn’t done yet. The press release clearly stated that the layoffs only applied to U.S. employees: “This restructuring plan crosses all U.S. divisions of the company and lowers the total number of domestic staff at MySpace to 1,000 employees.” Next up are international employees, and we hear that 100+ more will be cut across the nearly 30 offices MySpace has around the world.

The delay is due to legal requirements for notice in some countries, we’ve heard. But cuts are coming. And based on how poorly MySpace has done internationally against Facebook, those cuts may be far deeper than the 30% U.S. rate. Our best guess is that MySpace currently has 300 or so employees not based in the U.S. I’m guessing those employees will be busy updating resumes and downloading every file they have access to onto portable hard drives.

Lets nip this one in the bud right away. SFAppeal is reporting that MySpace terminated every employee in its San Francisco office as part of the wider layoffs today.

The report is based on an anonymous MySpace employee who told the site “San Francisco MySpace offices have just been obliterated. (Staff is) all just getting phone calls in silence and staring at each other, one by one. All fired. Even higher ups. One by one.” That statement was interpreted as “we’re told that every San Francisco-based MySpace employee has been laid off this afternoon.”

MySpace won’t comment on whether their San Francisco office remains open (you read that right, they will not answer the question “Do you still have a San Francisco office?”) but other sources close to the company say the office remains open and that layoff rates weren’t materially different than at MySpace headquarters in Los Angeles.

We’ve heard that MySpace will likely close the San Francisco office eventually, but as of now everyone who’s willing to talk says it either isn’t closing or isn’t imminent.

Those MySpace rumors we’ve been talking about are very real. A week ago we wrote that MySpace and parent company Fox Interactive Media would layoff hundreds of employees. Today the company is confirming those cuts, saying they’ll “reduce staff by nearly 30%.” We’re updating our layoff tracker to include this information.

A MySpace employee writes to tell us that there is extra security in the building right now, and that managers are being given boxes (presumably to give to employees to pack their stuff). Human resources booked a conference room from 12 - 4 as well.

MySpace has around 1,600 employees, which means 480 or so of them are going to be out of a job by 4 pm. Time to update your resumes. Our guess is another 300 will be gone by end of year.

Press release below:

It’s over. Facebook is now as large as MySpace in the U.S., according to May data released today by comScore. Facebook actually passed MySpace by a smidgeon, with 70.278 million unique visitors compared to MySpace’s 70.255 million. While Facebook passed MySpace on a worldwide basis last year, as recently as last March, Facebook was still trailing MySpace by 9 million unique visitors.

In May, Facebook gained another 2.8 million unique visitors in the U.S. MySpace, which has been stagnating lately and as a result now has a new CEO, lost about 700,000 unique visitors during the month. A few months ago, it looked like it might take Facebook until the end of the summer to catch up to MySpace, but it has already done so.

MySpace is about to have a major wave of layoffs, according to multiple sources close to the company. One source describes the number of people affected as “massive”, while another source says that the layoffs will likely affect between 300 and 500 employees. It’s unclear if these numbers apply to MySpace alone or its parent company Fox Interactive Media, but MySpace makes up around 1600 of the 2900 employees in FIM, so it’s likely that the social network will be hit hard.

Last summer MySpace let go of 5% of its staff, and as many as 45 employees were laid off last month. These cuts go far deeper. We’ve heard that the company’s legal team is hammering out the paperwork that will need to be submitted to the state of California under the WARN act, which requires large companies to give advance notice of any major layoffs. We’ve contacted the California Employment Development Department, which has yet to receive the filing, but we hear they should be getting it any day now.

We’ve been hearing for some time (starting with an ex-Youtube employee) that the number of video streams per day reported by Comscore, Nielsen and other metrics services way under-report on Youtube’s total video streams.

It’s hard to compare apples to apples, though. Recent Comscore data says Google/YouTube streams just under 7 billion videos per month in the U.S., up from around 5 billion/month late last year. That’s about 225 million streams a day, which still puts them well above all the next major competitors (MySpace, Hulu, Yahoo, Viacom, Microsoft, etc.). Nielsen says Google/YouTube streams 5.5 billion videos/month in the U.S.

But the real number of streams/day, we’ve now confirmed with a source at Google, is above 1.2 billion/day worldwide. That matches what we’ve heard from other sources. That pretty much means everyone on the Internet, on average, is watching one YouTube video per day.

Even on the Web, world dominance must be achieved one country at a time. While Facebook has long been the largest social network in the world, and should soon pass MySpace in the U.S., it is not the largest social network in every country. The map above created by Vincenzo Cosenza resembles more a game of Risk, with Facebook sweeping across the globe from the West.

Using Alexa and Google Trend data, Cosenza color-coded the map based on which social network is the most popular in each country. All of the light green countries belong to Facebook. But there are still pockets of resistance in Russia (where V Kontakte rules), China (QQ), Brazil and India (Orkut), Central America, Peru, Mongolia, and Thailand (hi5), South Korea (Cyworld), Japan (Mixi), the Middle East (Maktoob), and the Philippines (Friendster).

A year ago MySpace and Fox Interactive Media were trumpeting an upcoming office move to Playa Vista in Los Angeles. Peter Levinsohn (former) President of the no longer existing Fox Interactive Media, justified the move to the 300,000 square foot space based on the “phenomenal success” of the business, and noted that he expected “even greater growth and achievements in the coming fiscal year.”

FIM has experienced phenomenal success in its three-year history, and we have plans for even greater growth and achievements in the coming fiscal year. Given our tremendous track record, it’s only fitting that we should enter into the single biggest real-estate transaction in Los Angeles in the last 25 years. When we move to our new facility between June of 2009 and January of 2010, not only will we enjoy the distinction of having one of the largest corporate headquarters in the LA area, but we will be housed in a state-of-the-art facility that reflects our corporate identity and culture.

Fast forward through that next fiscal year and just about everything in Levinsohn’s email worked out exactly differently. Peter’s gone. FIM is dissolved. MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe was terminated. And MySpace is facing dramatic traffic declines and the prospect of a world without Google welfare payments.

A year ago we modeled out the true value of various social networks based on the idea that users in high-value online advertising markets like Japan, the UK and the U.S. were worth more (financially speaking) than those in lower value online advertising markets. Facebook had recently become the largest worldwide social network in terms of users, but based on our model MySpace was still by far the most valuable social network.

We’ve now remodeled social network valuations based on current user numbers and Facebook’s most recent $10 billion valuation. The results are dramatically different.

Based on the original year-old model, if Facebook was worth $15 billion (their then-current valuation), MySpace, with far more U.S. users, was worth nearly $20 billion:

Our model takes Comscore data for available countries and regions. We’ve graphed each of 26 well known social networks with the data we have been able to collect. We’ve then calculated the average advertising spend (estimated by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in a recent report) for each person online in each of those countries. For example, in the U.S., the total 2008 estimated Internet advertising spend is $25.2 billion. We’ve divided that by the number of people online in the U.S. according to Comscore (191 million), to get an average Internet spend per person of $132. View the raw data and calculations here.

The U.S., by the way, is only the 4th most valuable market per Internet user, trailing The UK ($213), Australia ($148) and Denmark ($144).

At this morning’s Conversational Marketing Summit in New York, SocialMedia.com CEO Seth Goldstein revealed that the advertising company had been working with MySpace to develop and deploy ‘Interaction Ads’ - an advertising product that can prompt a MySpace member for input and use that, along with MySpace’s social graph, to tailor the advertising shown to their friends.

The ads are a variation on SocialMedia.com’s powerful Friend to Friend social ads, which the company first rolled out in March. The idea behind them is simple: if I visited a page on MySpace Music, an ad could ask me if I preferred Rock or Rap, with a pair of checkboxes where I could indicate my favorite genre. Then when my friends visited MySpace, they could see an ad that said “Jason likes Rock and Roll! Which do you like?” This level of customization may seem a little strange at first to users, but the ads tend to be far more engaging than typical banner ads. I won’t be surprised if ads that pair user interaction and the social graph become the norm over the next few years.

Farkie is a free online tool that lets you extract and download multimedia content from websites and social networking services, including videos from YouTube and MP3 files from MySpace playlists. The web-based file downloader has been in public beta for about two months now, works without the need to register and is easy as pie.

All you need to do is copy-paste e.g. a public YouTube video URL, and Farkie will offer the video file to you in a variety of formats (MP3, AVI, WMV, WAV MOV or FLV).