In a sign of the changing social networking landscape, the once market-leader and pioneering site Myspace has announced a significant reduction in its workforce by nearly 50%. The Wall Street Journal reports that Myspace has cut 500 of its more than 1,000 employees worldwide, as the site struggles to remain profitable in the shadow of Facebook.

Myspace notified staff of the cuts on Tuesday, as parent company News Corp. considers ways to make the social networking site more popular again. A recent relaunch positioned Myspace as an entertainment destination, to build on its traditional strengths as a music focused site, and the company claims that this has led to increased sign-ups and also stronger mobile usage.

However, since News Corp bought Myspace for $580 million in 2005 it has been overtaken in recent years by the rapid growth in Facebook usage, which has grown to more than 500 million members while Myspace's numbers have dwindled.