Very Social Network

What Should Facebook Do?

TELECOM TV -- Aug 31 -- Facebook isn't looking to sell or IPO anytime soon. Is this wise given the fickleness of social networking users? In 2003, Friendster turned down Google's $30 million offer and today is worth less than 1/20 of its 2003 valuation. Facebook, which could be valued at about $1 billion, will likely pay attention to Classmates' upcoming IPO. FULL ARTICLE @ TELECOM TV

YouTube Pays Up To UK Royalty Collection Group

E FLUX MEDIA -- Aug 30 -- YouTube, which has been attacked for copyright issues on its site, has signed a license agreement with the MCPS-PRS Alliance, the UK group that collects royalties for more than 50,000 composers, songwriters and publishers. YouTube users now will be able to incorporate any of the 10 million copyrighted British songs in their amateur or professional videos. YouTube will pay a flat fee, and the MCPS-PRS will be responsible for splitting the money between its members. FULL ARTICLE @ E FLUX MEDIA

DirectMatches To Go Public

PRESS RELEASE -- Aug 30 -- DirectMatches – the fastest-growing, most popular business network, especially in the small- and home-based business markets – has announced their intent to go public and investors are clamoring for a piece of the action. The company, founded in 2005, already has turned down multimillion-dollar offers. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: This site has a long way to go before matchinging the functional brilliance of LinkedIn. Reid Hoffman is no slouch. When LinkedIn IPO's the event will pave the way for many more niche business networks.

Collegiate Social Networking Sites

CNET NEWS -- Aug 30 -- CNET News has picked 10 social networking sites, ranging from party hubs to academic resources, that fit right into a college lifestyle. Blackboard's social-bookmarking site Scholar, Zoho with its collaborative document system, social sites Going and Upcoming, and CouchSurfing, which lets you literally find a couch to crash on, are but some of them. FULL ARTICLE @ C NET NEWS

iPart Among Red Herring's Top 100 In Asia

PR NEWSWIRE -- Aug 30 -- The Chinese SNS dating blog and community site iPart has been selected as one of Red Herring's Top 100 IT companies in Asia. The site, which was first launched in Taiwan in 2002 and China in 2005 and boasts 8.3 million registered members between the two, was ranked among the top 2 in the industry and top 100 in Chinese websites in terms of number of visitors. FULL ARTICLE @ SYS CON MEDIA

Mark Brooks: iPartment is doing very well! Its young users set up imaginary online homes and move in with their imaginary husbands/wives.

Can Wal-Mart Use Facebook To Get Back On Track?

aADOTAS -- Aug 30 -- After a failed attempt at creating their own social network called the Hub, Wal-Mart has created a group on Facebook called "Roommate Style Match" so college roommates can discuss decorating options and college life. The majority of the comments seen on the group's page, though, have been negatively aimed at the company's business practices. FULL ARTICLE @ ADOTAS

Mark Brooks: Wal-Mart has a lot of work to do both with its practices, and with building its online reputation. 'Advertising' through social media doesn't work when your audience despises you.

Google Buys Stake In Chinese Social Networking Site

THIS DAY ONLINE -- Aug 29 -- In an attempt to compete with Baidu – which dominates the Chinese search market with a 58.1% share – Google has acquired an unspecified stake in Chinese community website Tianya.cn. Google, with its 22.8% share, also has won preliminary approval from Beijing to provide Internet content in the country. With about 162 million web users, China is the world's second-largest Internet market after the U.S. FULL ARTICLE @ THIS DAY ONLINE

Jaiku Goes Jabber

TECH CRUNCH -- Aug 30 --Microblogging platform Jaiku has added Jabber-based instant messaging capabilities to its service that allow those using Jaiku's Web, iPhone, and Nokia Series 60 smart phones to communicate with users on Jabber-based IM networks, including Google Talk. Features include the ability to instantly add and read new posts, comments, and channel messages, and receive notifications of inbound responses directly. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Plaxo Publicizes Some Of Its Code

ADOTAS -- Aug 29 -- Plaxo has made the source code for its "Online Identity Consolidator" available to the general public. The code can detect all of the social networking accounts for a user and embed any related RSS feeds onto the user's Pulse profile. The move is an effort on Plaxo's part to maintain the company's original goals of creating a user-customizable, open network. FULL ARTICLE @ ADOTAS

News Corp. And NBC Universal Bring You Hulu

MEDIA DAILY NEWS -- Aug 29 -- A beta version of Hulu, the joint venture between News Corp. and NBC Universal, went live this morning. The potential YouTube killer will offer full episodes of network and cable hits, plus movies. The ad-supported site – whose content will be distributed via AOL, MSN, MySpace, Yahoo, CNET and Comcast and reach 98% of the U.S. Internet audience – will go live in October. FULL ARTICLE @ MEDIA DAILY NEWS

BabyCenter Buys Maya's Mom

ONLINE MEDIA DAILY -- Aug 29 -- The media company BabyCenter has purchased the social networking site Maya's Mom to accelerate its social networking capabilities and create an affiliate network for advertisers. In addition to providing a white-label solution, Maya's Mom – where moms have children closer to age 5 – also bridges the gap between BabyCenter and its sister site ParentCenter. FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE MEDIA DAILY

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MySpace Refashions Fashion Site

ONLINE MEDIA DAILY -- Aug 29 -- In time for New York Fashion Week, MySpace relaunched its fashion site with a redesigned landing page and higher-definition images. The new site features video content from fashion publishers, celebrity video diaries, and videos from aspiring designers. According to comScore, most MySpace users now are at least 35 years old and the majority of MySpace households bring in $40,000-$59,999 in annual income. More than 15 million member households have incomes of $100,000 or more. FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE MEDIA DAILY

Bluepulse Raises $6 Million

DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE -- Aug 28 -- Bluepulse, a provider of mobile social networking services, has raised $6 million from VantagePoint Venture Partners in its first round of funding. The company, which has about 100 million monthly page views, also is relocating its headquarters from Australia to California. FULL ARTICLE @ DIGITAL MEDIA WIRE

NOSO And Wannago Opposite Ends Of Social Spectrum

CNBC -- Aug 28 -- NOSO is an anti-social networking site, where users can "temporarily disengage" from socializing by meeting at non-events and not talking to each other. Wannago (formerly MatchActivity), on the other hand, is MeetUp meets Match meets Facebook. Like NOSO, users connect in real life. Unlike NOSO, they actually interact. FULL ARTICLE @ CNBC

Mark Brooks: College Tonight launches later in September and will help students get off their computer to go and socialize.

Hi-Media to Acquire Fotolog For $90 Million

ONLINE MEDIA DAILY -- Aug 28 -- Interactive media company Hi-Media has agreed to purchase photo-blogging community Fotolog for about $90 million. The weighty cash and stock deal is an attempt by Hi-Media to leverage Fotolog's 10 million members for the benefit of its ad network and micro-payments business. Fotolog expects 2007 revenues of $2.3 million. FULL ARTICLE @ ONLINE MEDIA DAILY