Social Networking Watch: News on the Social Networking and Social Media Industry

Social Network for HIV/AIDS Community

PR NEWSWIRE -- Mar 28 -- HIVConnect.net, a nonprofit project by former Manhunt general manager, Stephan Adelson, is a place of free dialogue for people with HIV/AIDS, AIDS Services Organizations and researchers. FULL ARTICLE @ PR INSIDE

Xing buys Spanish Business Social Network

E-CONSULTANCY -- Mar 28 -- Xing, the German-based business social network, is expanding into the Spanish-speaking market with the purchase of eConozco, Spain's second biggest professional network, launched 2003, with 150,000 members. Xing has ~1.7m members, and ~13% pay €5.95 a month for added benefits. FULL ARTICLE @ E-CONSULTANCY

Mark Brooks: Ryze and Linkedin also charge for value added services these days.

WAYN Ties up With Kayak.com

EYE FOR TRAVEL -- Mar 27 -- Travel and lifestyle online community WAYN (Where Are You Now) has signed a strategic partnership with Kayak to offer a comprehensive flight search service for its eight million members. FULL ARTICLE @ EYE FOR TRAVEL

Widsets

MEDIA POST -- Mar 27 -- MySpace and YouTube both flourished in large part because of their simplicity. There has been a lot of griping about the mobile interface in the wake of the Apple iPhone announcement, for instance. One radical answer I have seen to the clutter and irrelevance of the deck is Widsets, a widget-based approach to connecting to the Web. You manage this downloadable Java app from the Web by dragging and dropping widgets for eBay, branded news feeds, Wikipedia, and FlickR onto the Web interface so they show up on your phone screen and configure each widget to access your personal data like a GMail account or a specific RSS feed. Major sites are already available but it looks as if fans, not the companies themselves, made them. FULL ARTICLE @ MEDIA POST

Bebo Goes Mobile With NewBay

BUSINESS WIRE -- Mar 28 --NewBay (funded by Banchmark) allows Bebo mobile photo upload. Its UGC Gateway now supports interaction with Bebo. Beboers will now be able to upload images and text, browse profiles and receive text alerts to their mobile phone. Orange UK today announced that it is the first mobile operator to partner with Bebo. Orange UK customers will be able to stay in touch with their friends on Bebo, meet new people and express themselves anytime, anywhere from any Orange phone. FULL ARTICLE @ YAHOO

MyCircles Adult Social Network Launches

PRESS RELEASE -- Mar 26 -- MyCircles.com specializes in alternative lifestyles. Said CEO LeonGomez, "Our plans are to have some portions of MyCircles as free communities and other areas that have adult content on them which will require a paid membership. At this time we are a free site for all of the communities though.  We are requiring all users to go through an age verification process and will be offering all of our US users a free criminal background check that also includes a screening for sexual offenders." FULL ARTICLE @ FAST PITCH

News Corp. & NBC to Create YouTube Killer

ARS TECHNICA -- Mar 22 -- News Corp. and NBC have formed partnerships with Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Time Warner/AOL to supply content and provide distribution channels. The YouTube competitor will launch this summerwith a number of TV shows and movie content. FULL ARTICLE @ ARS TECHNICA

Facebook to Make Changes, but Wants Feedback

VENTURE BEAT -- Mar 21 -- Facebook, the popular social networking site, is planning to simplify the design of its users profile and feed pages, and to create new network pages and has created a "Facebook Sneak Preview" group to get feedback before it implements them. The Profile page will be a sleeker with fewer links under the profile picture and a briefer Mini-Feed. Messages and shares will be found in one inbox. You can message several people at once, and they can reply to everyone on the thread. Finally, each network will have their own page. FULL ARTICLE @ VENTURE BEAT

Mr and Miss Indian Orkut

TIMES OF INDIA -- Mar 21 -- Move over Mr and Miss World and make way for Mr and Miss Orkut. The prize: Just bragging rights! Members are now voting for Mr and Miss Orkut and the final results will be declared on April 1. FULL ARTICLE @ TIMES OF INDIA

MySpace Restrictions Upset Some Users

NY TIMES -- Mar 20 -- MySpace has gradually been imposing limits on the software tools that users can embed in their pages, like music and video players that also deliver advertising or enable transactions.  To some formerly enthusiastic MySpace users, the new restrictions hamper their abilities to design their pages and promote new projects. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Mark Brooks: Widget providers make money from riding on MySpace's coattails. If MySpace clamps down too hard, it will restrict their growth as users shift to alternative, less restrictive social networks.  Remember, users went to MySpace instead of Friendster three years ago because they were more empowered; Friendster had nothing in the way of profile customization features.  But they are seeing money spilling through their fingers so it must be frustrating.  What will the executives at MySpace do. My vote...minimal restrictions. Come up with a 'MySpace Approved' list of widgets and promote them on the site.  Keep the members happy. It's their space, after all.

Narcissism on the Internet Isn't Risk-Free

MIAMI HERALD -- Mar 19 -- MySpace encourages attention-seeking, as does YouTube, whose slogan is 'Broadcast Yourself.' "People our age really want to explore themselves and see how they compare to other people by posting up Web site profiles," says Patrick Fishbach, a student at Loyola University Chicago. This generation is rapidly undergoing a bumpy transformation from being merely watchers of content to creators of content. "If you told someone, 'Call your 30 best friends today,' they wouldn't do it," says Friendster President Kent Lindstrom. "But they will use social networking to check in with 30 friends." FULL ARTICLE @ MIAMI HERALD

Mark Brooks: Air transportation made the world a smaller place. Social network sites are making it even smaller.

Kent Lindstrom, President, Friendster

INTERNETNEWS -- Mar 19 -- The U.S. Patent Office has awarded Friendster with patents that make clear Friendster's crucial role in developing the very idea of an online social network. Friendster President Kent Lindstrom joined the company in 2002 as one of its first employees and served as CFO from March '03 to January '06 before taking over as president. "For Facebook people are just scared of being out of touch. Their whole profile is where they're going to be every minute of the day. In high school they're trying to establish status within social groups. Post-college you get a lot more practical. You need to meet new people. You have friends you want to keep in touch with. That's the stodgy, boring piece we focus on. We're just going to build a patent portfolio. Eventually we'll either license it or get acquired by somebody who licenses it is the logical path." FULL ARTICLE @ INTERNETNEWS

Presidential Hopefuls Launch MySpace Profiles

CNN -- Mar 19 -- MySpace.com, the popular social networking site, on Sunday launched a section dedicated to the 2008 presidential election. Called the Impact Channel, it's the latest attempt by an Internet company to educate voters by serving as an information hub for political candidates and the public. FULL ARTICLE @ CNN

Friendster VP Marketing, David Jones - OPW Interview

OPW INTERVIEW -- Mar 16 -- David Jones is the new VP Marketing at Friendster. Here's my interview with him... - Mark Brooks

David, it’s a pleasure talking with you. Can you tell us about your background?
I joined Friendster about 3 months ago back in December 2006. Before that, I was with eBay about 4 years, where I ran the large and growing Media and Entertainment business for almost 2 years, and I did both seller marketing and buyer marketing as well. Before eBay, I was with a start up called Blue Wireless, and then 10 years of management consulting.

How were you introduced to Friendster?
I remembered Friendster from the early days back in late 2002 and 2003, and I was reintroduced to it again when, for the first time in Friendster’s history, they were looking to hire a VP of Marketing to grow the business and help take it to the next level. I went through a thorough review of the opportunity and Friendster as a business and, of course, ended up liking what I discovered.

Why did I join Friendster? The assets and positives were simply compelling. Friendster is the pioneer in social networking, has a well-known positive consumer brand, has already won several key patents on social networking technology, achieved a massive and growing global user base (over 40 million registered users and 19+ million monthly unique visitors), and now has a high-performance technology platform that can effectively scale with the business. And, the management team, employees and investors are all top notch.

Who would you define as being the target audience of Friendster these days?
Friendster is very well positioned overall because its sweet spot is a large and very attractive demographic group – adults aged 18 to 45. Internationally, our users tend to be a bit younger, primarily 18 to 35, especially in Southeast Asia.

How do you see Friendster being differentiated from the likes of MySpace?
Friendster is a social network for adults where real people establish genuine, trusted connections and friendships online. They can find lost friends, stay in touch with current friends and make new friends online and offline.

The site is full of a host of features to establish connections, express oneself, share and communicate with friends and others onsite. In fact, we pioneered many of the social networking functionality features that you see on the site today that other sites have tried to adopt. But it’s all about sharing information, sharing photos, blogging, messaging and expressing oneself through their profile online.

What do you think of the social networks that help individuals create their own niche social networks, Ning.com and CollectiveX.com? Is this where Friendster is headed?
Well, the large social networks like Friendster have both the features and the critical mass to make online social networking truly work. It’s our belief – and we’re quite convinced – that people do not define themselves on a single dimension, a single hobby, or a single area of their life.

So as a result, the broader based social networks like Friendster will succeed because you can meet people and stay in touch with friends with whom you share one or several different areas of interest. Social networks like Friendster that are not fixated on a single aspect of one’s life are best positioned to scale.

Success will also require a critical mass of users – with 40 million registered users, Friendster is doing great there, too.

Perhaps there are one to two hundred niche social networks by now. They have a place in this world and provide some unique features to serve specific niches. And no doubt, some will get some level of traction and growth. But, by definition, they’re niche. Only the larger networks that let you define your relationships and friendships, and that help you keep in touch with your social network across a wide variety of dimensions will withstand the test of time.

Friendster completed an advertising deal with Google for advertising. Is this an exclusive advertising deal?The two types of advertising on Friendster that are now exclusively and globally provided by Google are:

• 1) contextual text advertising (text ads that are related to the other information shown on that page to the viewer)
• 2) search advertising - This is where users on Friendster want to conduct a web search off Friendster. Google will power those search results and Friendster participates in a revenue share of any advertising revenue that comes from those searches.

Are there still opportunities for companies to approach you to do more integrated advertising directly with Friendster?
Yes, absolutely. We have a direct sales team that is large and very successful. Our direct sales team works with clients to launch specific advertising campaigns as well as long term arrangements to meet the specific needs of direct advertisers on Friendster. This can involve graphic ads, multimedia, sponsoring certain sections of the site, and many other possibilities as well.

Advertisers are welcome to reach out to Friendster. As one of the 30 largest web properties on the planet, Friendster is a great place to advertise. Those interested in advertising or sponsorships on Friendster should contact our VP of Sales is Aaron Barnes.

In summary, we generate revenues from direct advertising, sponsorships, the Google contextual text ads and search advertising, and additional advertising delivered to Friendster by ad networks and resellers.

In the past Friendster was nearly acquired by Google. Is it still a possibility that Google would have an opportunity to acquire Friendster?
I am not in a position to say if all of those figures are correct, but let me just say one key point. We are focused on growing our very large business into an even larger and profitable business – that’s our first and primary goal in the next couple of years. As we grow the business, I am sure we’ll work with partners to make that happen. Google is an excellent partner that helps us monetize our traffic of 6 billion page views per month and the 19+ million monthly unique visitors to Friendster.com.

What are your goals for 2007 for Friendster?
In general, we want to make it easier than ever to use the site to make connections – find lost friends, stay in touch with current friends and make new friends. And, once you have a friends network, we’ll be making many changes to the site to improve how you can share and communicate with friends and groups of friends via Friendster.

Ultimately, we intend to grow both our US and international user base as fast as possible. So we’ll be rolling out a host of new products, marketing and PR initiatives to achieve that goal. We’ll get into those specifics when the time comes, but I will say keep an eye out in the next few months for some interesting new product enhancements that should help accelerate our growth.

Is This the Age of the online avatar?

USA TODAY -- Mar 16 -- Second Life (4.5 million registered) is "MySpace meets The Matrix" and is beta testing an integrated voice function that could substitute typed exchanges. In the near future far-flung family members will circle a virtual campfire, in photo-realistic avatar form, on a regular basis. Most agree that avatars have gone mainstream. Imvu.com already offers avatar-to-avatar chat. DigitalSpace.com creates 3D imaging for clients. FULL ARTICLE @ USA TODAY

Mark Brooks: Watching a movie helps you escape into the story for a couple of hours. Second Life helps people truly escape, and become the story. There's a real need for this kind of escape. I'm just a little disturbed that there's a real need for this kind of escape. Are we spending a little too much time 'plugged in.' In England there was a TV program, some years ago, called 'Why Don't You,' which I rarely watched because I was too busy playing games on my ZX Spectrum, which taught kids about interesting things to do.  The core message resonates moreso today, and was 'Why don't you...just get up, turn off the TV, and go do something more interesting.' Replace 'TV' with 'computer.'

USA TODAY -- Mar 16 -- Second Life (4.5 million registered) is "MySpace meets The Matrix" and is beta testing an integrated voice function that could substitute typed exchanges. In the near future far-flung family members will circle a virtual campfire, in photo-realistic avatar form, on a regular basis. Most agree that avatars have gone mainstream. Imvu.com already offers avatar-to-avatar chat. DigitalSpace.com creates 3D imaging for clients. FULL ARTICLE @ USA TODAY

Mark Brooks: Watching a movie helps you escape into the story for a couple of hours. Second Life helps people truly escape, and become the story. There's a real need for this kind of escape. I'm just a little disturbed that there's a real need for this kind of escape. Are we spending a little too much time 'plugged in.' In England there was a TV program, some years ago, called 'Why Don't You,' which I rarely watched because I was too busy playing games on my ZX Spectrum, which taught kids about interesting things to do.  The core message resonates moreso today, and was 'Why don't you...just get up, turn off the TV, and go do something more interesting.' Replace 'TV' with 'computer.'

Yahoo Flickr China, Coming Soon

SEARCH ENGINE JOURNAL -- Mar 15 -- Yahoo is planning on launching a Chinese version of Flickr. Will Yahoo be faced with the same dilemma as Google - trading morals for the huge money making opportunity of the Chinese market? And will China change its view on blocking Flickr when it realizes that the site is full of soft porn and provides open access to politically sensitive images? FULL ARTICLE @ SEJ

Friendster's Third Patent

PR NEWSWIRE -- Mar 15 -- Friendster (40 million members) was awarded a patent titled, "System and Method for Managing Connections in an Online Social Network"( U.S. Patent No. 7,188,153 B2). The third in a growing portfolio of patents granted to Friendster, highlighting the company's innovation in online social networking. Specifics disclosed in the patent include adding friends, personalizing your profile through arranging, ordering and classifying connections made in an online community, and managing these connections at will. Said VP Marketing, David Jones, "Friendster laid the groundwork upon which online social networking is built. This validates and protects our heritage as a pioneer." In July '06, Friendster was awarded its first U.S. patent illustrating and describing how people are connected in the context of an online social network titled, "A System, Method and Apparatus for Connecting Users in an Online Computer System Based on Their Relationships within Social Networks" ( U.S. Patent No. 7,069,308). In October 2006, Friendster received a second U.S. patent which discloses the process of enriching other user's profiles with text, video, pictures and additional content titled, "Method of Inducing Content Uploads in a Social Network" (U.S. Patent No. 7,117,254). FULL ARTICLE @ YAHOO NEWS

Social Network Traffic Up 11.5%

ZD NET -- Mar 15 --  According to Hitwise, the US market share of Internet traffic to the top 20 social networking sites grew by 11.5% from January to February 2007, to 6.5% of all Internet traffic in February 2007. MySpace is still the heavyweight in a market made up of featherweights, with an 80% share. Facebook is MySpace's closest challenger with 10% of the market.

Market Share of US Internet Visits to Top 20 Social Networking Sites, February 2007*
1 MySpace  81%
2 Facebook  10%
3 Bebo  1%
4 BlackPlanet 0.88%
5 Xanga  0.87%
6 iMeem  0.73%
7 Yahoo! 360  up 0.72%
8 Classmates  up 0.72%
9 hi5  0.69%
10 Tagged  0.67%
11 LiveJournal  0.49%
12 Gaiaonline  0.48%
13 Friendster  0.34%
14 Orkut  0.26%
15 Live Spaces  0.18%
16 HoverSpot  0.18%
17 Buzznet  0.18%
18 Sconex  0.14%
19 MiGente.com  0.11%
20 myYearbook  0.11%
Based on Hitwise sample of 10 million US Internet users.

Movers and shakers specialize in building communities around music/media: Buzznet (up 148%) and iMeem (up 145.7%). Also, Hoverspot (up 19.6%) and Bebo (up 17.8%), which both compete more directly with MySpace. FULL ARTICLE @ ZD NET