next tagworld, myspace...blahblahbox?

Girl, 15, Behind the Next Social Networking Success Story

Most teenagers are happy to spend time using Myspace. Stephanie Meagher, 15, wants to go one step further. Her ambition is to own a site as successful as Myspace, Tagworld or Bebo. (PRWEB) April 29, 2006 -- Most teenagers are happy to spend time using Myspace. Stephanie Meagher, 15, wants to go one step further. Her ambition is to own a site as successful as Myspace, Tagworld or Bebo. “I love the idea of people all over the world connecting and making friends. It's what I did on Myspace and now it's fantastic to be doing it in a community of my own,” says Stephanie, who took a year out from school to realize her dream. Her website, blahblahbox is already proving hugely popular. “I've got members telling me they prefer it to Myspace,” she comments. One of the biggest attractions for users is the choice of themes which allows members to change the identity of blahblahbox to suit their tastes. Users can also customize their profiles using a built in profile generator, a feature that Myspace does not yet have. The teenager acknowledges that trying to compete with a site as big as Myspace is a momentous task. “I've still got to add a video upload service and also a bands signup function. But these are coming and when they arrive, blahblahbox will match all of the big social networking sites in terms of what members can do!” As it is, blahblahbox has some extra features that make it unique. Members can flirt anonymously and see who has recently visited their profile. Members can also create their own quizzes and polls and easily add streaming video their profiles. The ambitious teen plans to sign up 100,000 members over the next six months. “It will be difficult with no money to invest. Big business spends millions on advertising. I've got to be inventive,” says Stephanie. She has already organized a lot free publicity at major festivals and events, through friends and people who want to help spread the word. She also intends to generate revenue from advertising. Ultimately, Stephanie takes a long term view on the site and comments, “I've just turned fifteen. I'm curious to see how blahblahbox is doing when I'm 20. A few millions users would be a dream come true!” Contact: Stephanie Meagher +353 86 0551006 www.blahblahbox.com

Viacom to Acquire Xfire for $102MM

MTV Networks just acquired Xfire, one of the fastest-growing online gaming platforms and communities. This seems like a great way for MTVN to enter the online community space - Xfire is the only instant messenger for gamers with an extensive, legal peer-to-peer file distribution system.

"Xfire is now backed by one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media. It means that Xfire will continue to grow and enhance your gaming experience. Xfire was created by gamers, for gamers. We will always remain committed to improving gaming with your friends. MTV Networks shares this vision with us, and they will help us to continue building Xfire into a larger and more exciting community, one passionate gamer at a time."

http://www.xfire.com/cms/xf_acquisition

More on Microsoft-Massive Possible Deal | paidContent.org

More on Microsoft-Massive Possible Deal | paidContent.org

Saw this last night but PaidContent has an ongoing summary. After we spoke about Massive in class... Looks like Microsoft listened and is thinking of buying them for $200-$400 mm.

is AOL becoming the next NBC

Despite the language barrier between Micheal Jackson and myself in class last week, I still believe that the opportunity for Internet Portals to take ownership of distibution channels of valuable properties will prove too valuable to deny...one example of reverting to old formula broadcasting is the recent AOL offering of old TV shows on web sites like In2TV...how far is this from NBC offering shows only on its network? Why would Expedia want to "host' a hot travel and control where the "viewer" would access the show, with the tag line " Expedia can get you there" . How can they resist? I welcome the thoughts of others on this subject....
http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?URI=/2006/03/01/business/media/01adco.html&OQ=_rQ3D5Q26orefQ3DsloginQ26orefQ3DsloginQ26orefQ3DsloginQ26orefQ3Dslogin&REFUSE_COOKIE_ERROR=SHOW_ERROR

Wired News: You, To, Can Right Like a Blogger

Wired News: You, To, Can Right Like a Blogger:

Great commentary on blogging. While some believe that blogging will somehow naturally cause people to learn and gravitate to better writing, as this writer points out, that presumes people have the sense to distinguish the two and choose between them. Sadly though, most people prefer People to the New Yorker. It's definitely an open question I think - does the easy access of blogs and other internet tools improve the general discourse, merely by allowing more people to gain experience in participating in it?

"As a mere stripling, I was advised that if I hoped to become a good writer, I should write every day. More than that, I should read good writing every day. This can be accomplished on the internet as easily as it can by reading a book or magazine. But if you're the sort who prefers People to The New Yorker, well, again, what's the point?
So my riposte to Topsy was, while the internet may be a nifty vehicle for delivering one's polished prose and penetrating insights to an impatiently waiting world, it can't help you become a better writer if you, pardon my French, suck."

What Will It Take For a Web Hang Site to be the Next No. 1?

Will Facebook, TagWorld, Tagged, or VarsityWorld become the next MySpace?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114600135884335697.html?mod=mm_hs_marketing_strategy

Big Music Firms Dealt a Legal Blow

Global musics companies are suspected of colluding over prices set for online music serives.

"Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, found that two of the four big music companies, Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group and EMI Group PLC, deliberately misled federal investigators by obscuring the degree
to which they sought -- and gained -- information about their competitors' pricing agreements with online music services."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114583343293133617.html?mod=mm_media_marketing_hs_left

For MySpace, Making Friends Was Easy. Big Profit Is Tougher. - New York Times

For MySpace, Making Friends Was Easy. Big Profit Is Tougher. - New York Times:

MySpace, in the NYT - an excellent summary of the current situation... How do you monetize with out pissing off the members? With a new social networking site launching almost every day, this is not an idle question. Friendster bought it by pissing off its core group of hard core users.

"FOR now, MySpace is charging bargain-basement rates to attract enough advertisers for the nearly one billion pages it displays each day. The company will have revenue of about $200 million this year, estimated Richard Greenfield of Pali Capital, a brokerage firm in New York. That is less than one-twentieth of Yahoo's revenue."

Video Handsets Mostly Just Used as Phones - New York Times

Video Handsets Mostly Just Used as Phones - New York Times:

Bad news for proponents of mobile video... I have always been skeptical of what content people would watch on their phones. More to the point, I can't imagine why they woul dpay for it. Mobile video seems to be a nice to have for brief things that can be supported by 15-seocnd sponsors... News briefs, Sports highlights, soap opera updates, etc...

"'Many, many people just use their phones as a device to make and receive calls,' said Drew Hull, research director for mobile content at the NPD Group. Until the price of video service drops, he said, 'they still have no interest in paying extra for that service.' "

Blogging at Work

This WSJ article will make you glad you did not become a lawyer.

"It's easy to understand why blogging attracts the J.D. set: Few professions combine as much creative talent with so much mind-numbing work."

There is an increasing trend of people blogging at work about their jobs. Some of the early bloggers with many readers have gotten book deals, many are just voicing frustrations with work, and a few have lost their jobs when their employers found out.

TVGuide.com Launches Writers Blog Community

TVGuide recently launched a new blog section on its website - featuring over 65 blogs on various television shows, entertainment news and celebrities. Seems like a great way to retain customers and maintain a brand that has been deeply hurt by the slowly deteriorating print industry.

"We're trying to keep it simple," explained Jay Bryant, director of online communities for TVGuide.com. "This isn't aimed at a tech enthusiast; it's aimed at a much broader population." Bryant noted TVGuide.com plans to build content and traffic in the next two or three months, at which time a "much more robust user community" will be launched in conjunction with the start of the fall television season."

http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3600636

Comeback of the Net Boom and Web 2.0

A pretty comprehensive analysis by Fortune.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/05/01/8375405/index.htm

2 articles on MySpace

This is exactly what we are talking about in class. It's easy for MySpace to attract memebers. it's so powerful that a Texas Community College has to ban its students from using it on campus. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-MySpace-Ban.html
But it's much harder to make a lot of money, for now. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/business/yourmoney/23myspace.html

New media | Talking to yourself | Economist.com

New media | Talking to yourself | Economist.com:

"in the age of mass participation, new media will co-exist with old - indeed it is already increasingly hard to tell when one becomes the other. True, ever more people will upload short video clips to new websites such as YouTube.com, go to Netflix.com to rate their DVDs, to Amazon.com to discuss books and their own blogs for online debate. But that will not replace Steven Spielberg's blockbusters or the New York Times's network of reporters."

The Economist opines about blos and media proliferation.

IAB release 2005 Online Advertising Report

http://www.iab.net/resources/adrevenue/pdf/IAB_PwC_2005.pdf

Chock full of lovely data...

Ted's Take - AIM

Ted's Take - AIM
Ted Leonsis' of AOL's take on the AOL Myspace killer rumor...

MySpace for the Office

Could social networking help corporate American advance its business goals? Here is one recent attemp.

Venture capital backed "Visible Path" is hoping to use social networking to overcome the sixth degree of separation in the corporate world. So next time instead of making a cold call, you may be able to find someone within your or your friend's social network, who happens to know the CTO or CMO you are trying to reach, and make a proper introduction.

Details, see the Business Week article.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2006/tc20060418_044277.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_internet

The internet - the place where decisions are made

Nearly 60 million people claimed that the internet has helped them make major decisions in the past two years. Major decisions include college, home refinance, mail order brides. Joking about the last one! This figure has increased by 40% since 2002. The implications of this only reconfirms why all Big Business has been pushing all of its resource into the net over the past decade. We , as people, love instant gratification. The internet is obviously the only place where you can compare across the nation without leaving your own home. As societal synaptic connections and our minds become more similar to that of a 40 year ritalin addict, that which needs constant stimulation, we will continue to turn to the net because it provides the most comprehensive form of information and the most of it. Naturally looking through US News for the best graduate schools just doesn't cut it anymore....we need to read all their is

Did he really say that?

Scrambled Hackz is a new program designed to protect intellectual property rights does so with patented voice recognition software.

The concept is simple: Speak a sentence and choose the proper database of sound bytes. The user’s words are replaced with sounds from the database. For example: see a K-fed interview regarding his marital bliss and then make up your own words. Now he might say what we know he is thinking. “I am taking all her money and I ‘m rich, don't hate the playa hate the game!”

The way that it works is that it takes a an audio video and cuts it into 16th note pieces and gives each a voice recognition pattern and sequences them in a database. Then when a users says something it does the same exact thing and matches their 16th notes patterns to those in the database and reconstructs both the voice pattern and image. I suggest you watch the video clip.

The Internet - a channel to the freedom of speech?

Few months after the big scandal involving big search engines in sharing customers' details in asia, more and more stories appear, creating a feeling of the Internet as a source allowing for more of an open-minded and free expression for people in these countries. The Internet is serving as a shelter and a source of liberalization for some silenced opinions in conservative countries. yet, with the level of stories about governments arresting Internet users in these countries growing, there is also a question of how much should Internet providers allow for these opinions to be heard, knowing that they might serve as a cause for legal acts. As an example, Skype has recently restricted the chat option on its platform in China, preventing users from posting 'wrong' expressions...

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