MySpace sells to Specific Media for $35 million

Social network MySpace has been sold once again.

The buyer is digital-media company Specific Media, which purchased the site from News Corp. for an undisclosed sum. As part of the deal, News Corp. will take a minority equity stake in Specific Media.

AllThings D's Kara Swisher, who first reported the sale earlier today, said Specific Media paid $35 million.

In a statement about the sale, Specific Media CEO Tim Vanderhook said: "Myspace is a recognized leader that has pioneered the social media space. The company has transformed the ways in which audiences discover, consume and engage with content online."

"There are many synergies between our companies as we are both focused on enhancing digital media experiences by fueling connections with relevance and interest," he said. "We look forward to combining our platforms to drive the next generation of digital innovation."

As part of the deal, Swisher says MySpace's staff of 400 will be cut in half, corroborating murmurs from yesterday that more layoffs were on the way. In a memo sent to employees, MySpace CEO Mike Jones made note of additional "restructuring initiatives" while also announcing that he's departing the company after a two-month transition period.

"My time here at MySpace represents the most engaging and challenging time of my professional career," Jones wrote. "I have found our team to be comprised of the best people I have come across in our industry."

MySpace was purchased by News Corp. in 2005 for a whopping $580 million as a way to help drive traffic to Fox's TV and media efforts. According to Swisher, News Corp.'s announced equity stake will be 5 percent to 10 percent of Specific Media. By comparison, Microsoft invested $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook back in 2007, a company that was valued at $70 billion earlier this week.

MySpace underwent a massive redesign last year in an attempt to shed the site's stigma of lagging behind rival Facebook. This included adding a trending topics feature, and more media on profile pages to better integrate media from other properties.

Just a few months later, the company gutted its infrastructure, announcing a "significant organizational restructuring" that cut 47 percent of staff, or around 500 employees. That move was said to be tied to the company attempting to trim down to make itself more of a target for potential buyers.

During an earnings conference call in February, News Corp. CEO Chase Carey said that the time was right to sell off the Web property to a new buyer in order for the site to "reach its full potential," and that the company was "evaluating those strategic alternatives."

Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said the sale shows how volatile the social market is, and how quickly consumer tastes can change.

"The fundamental question is where did $550 million of value go?" Gartenberg said. "And there's a cautionary tale for other players in the space. Certainly the largest players have less to worry about, but smaller players that are looking very, very good today that are very niche may discover that consumers are more fickle than they think, and definitely have an affinity for the latest, shiny new thing that comes along."

According to research from Compete.com, MySpace pulled in 30.79 million unique visitors last month, which is down 6.34 percent compared with the previous month, and a 54.47 percent drop year over year. Looking at those numbers over the past two years, the chart looks like this:

Monthly unique visitors to MySpace, month by month for the past two years.

(Credit: Compete)

As for how the new buyers can change that trend, Gartenberg suggested refocusing the site on its music roots.

"If they double-down in that area and really focus the site on music, and can fit in this with existing music services that are out there, and the strong social connection, there's probably some sort of profitable business that can be rebuilt out of it," Gartenberg said. "But is it going to be a site that's going to dominate the entire social-network space? I think those days are behind it at this point."

Article by Josh Lowensohn

Obama to do Twitter chat on economy on July 6

President Barack Obama will hold a "town hall" webcast on the economy and jobs on Twitter next week, but don't expect his answers to be short.

The online service's normally ironclad 140-character limit -- the written "Tweet" format -- will apply to the questions the president receives but not to his answers.

The White House used Twitter to announce Wednesday's event and invited people to begin submitting queries.

The president, who has been praised for his oratorical skills and criticized at times for being too verbose, will appear on a webcast in a discussion moderated by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, the company's executive chairman, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Thursday.

The White House Twitter account, which has 2.2 million followers, invited questions to a new account "@townhall" marked with the hashtag "AskObama."

Americans' pessimism about the sluggish U.S. economy, especially the 9.1 percent jobless rate, may be the biggest obstacle to Obama's hopes of winning re-election next year.

Shortly after the announcement, questions were coming in on topics including green jobs, innovation and corporations. A video feed of his answers will be streamed online. The 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) webcast will also include a "TweetUp," Twitter's term for a meeting of people who use Twitter.

The White House makes regular use of social media, which it sees as a way to get its message to a wide range of Americans and hear from them directly. Obama's Twitter feed -- he started writing the occasional tweet himself just this month -- is one of the most popular on the system, with 8.9 million followers.

Obama visited Facebook in April for a town hall with the popular social network site's founder, Mark Zuckerberg. TOI

ZTE builds VAS platform for Vodafone Essar in India

ZTE has built and deployed an advanced VAS platform for mobile operator Vodafone Essar in India.

With the completion of the platform, Vodafone customers can avail the Vodafone Newswrap, a Mobile Newspaper service offering news from around the world, on their mobile phones. The introduction of the service will play a role in enhancing VAS revenues for Vodafone Essar.

As a part of the project, ZTE India has created the MNS and MMSC platforms, under a revenue-sharing model.

Data by InsightVAS

Yahoo's Apps Search for Mobiles

Realizing that mobile searches are increasingly taking over PC searches, Yahoo has introduced two new search tools to make mobile app searches a less tiring task.

Yahoo! App Search for the PC and the Yahoo! AppSpot for iPhone/Android will make it easier for users to browse through the thousands of mobile apps available on the iPhone Store and Google’s Android Market.

The Yahoo! AppSpot is a free mobile applet that allows users to locate and view a comprehensive description, snapshot, price and star rating of the apps.

The highlights of this tool are:

• Personalized Recommendations: A daily personalized recommendation regarding the apps you have recently searched
• Precise Results: Shows you the most relevant apps by matching the titles and keywords you type in during your search
• Related Apps: While searching for an appropriate app, you can now look forward to receive a list of several related apps within the “more apps you’ll love” section that best match your requirements
• At-a-Glance Shopping: You can see comprehensive information including price, overall star ratings, screenshots, and description on one screen instead of continual navigation through the screen
• Fast & Easy Downloads: Direct links to the specific apps on the Apple App Store or Android Marketplace will be provided to allow for a quick and easy download

The Yahoo! App Search is a computer-based version of AppSpot which can be found on the top panel navigation panel on the Yahoo! Site. This feature allows users to conveniently search and download apps to their mobile devices directly from a desktop. Users can search for an app by category, operating system (OS) or by simply typing the keywords into the search box.

It’s apparent that Yahoo! is trying to reclaim its dwindling existence in the search market and at the same time is adapting to the steadily evolving trend of mobile searches.

Have you tried either of these tools yet? If so, feel free to share your thoughts below.

Article by SearchNews

Google’s “Me on the Web” Aims to Help Manage Your Online Reputation

Keeping personal information off the web is quite difficult these days. With most of us active on social networks, blogging or even tweeting, maintaining privacy can sometimes seem an impossible task especially when our details appear on search engines.

Taking this issue into consideration Google has introduced a new tool “Me on the Web” that allows users to manage and control their personal details appearing in search results.

The “Me on the Web” tab has been placed in every user’s Google dashboard just below the ‘Account Details’ and contains various help documents that can be referred to for controlling and managing your personal identity and information on the web. This tool shows you all the websites (containing your name and contact information) that are synced to your Google profile so that you can moderate them accordingly.

If you’re familiar with Google Alerts, then you’re probably quite proficient with reputation management and the notifications it provides for any mention of your name, email address and other personal information being used across the web. For those who dont use Google Alerts, “Me on the Web” makes it easier to set up notifications by automatically suggesting some common search terms that you might want to monitor.

Perhaps the best feature of this new tool is the suggestions from Google on how to control third parties posting personal information about you. By using the links to resources under the “Me on the Web” tab, Google inlcudes suggestions like contacting the webmaster of any site and asking your personal information to be removed from their site. You can also report to Google directly asking for legal action, where ever applicable, via an online tool available under the “Me on the Web” tab.

Though Google is not the first company to address and take action on the online privacy concerns of users, with a centralized tool like “Me on the Web” Google is certainly helping the cause.

Article by Searchnews

Review : I have a Dream from Rashmi Bansal

Finally done with the book. Please read about the book at my older post "I have a Dream from Rashmi Bansal".

Personal Rating: 8/10

The book was great and in Bansal's usual pattern. I liked the first two editions more than this one. And the theme of social entrepreneurship was really catchy and needed for the youth.

Some of the stories went in too much details which got boring after few pages. Same with the projects. 3-4 projects were less interesting (in my view) and was less inspiring. I knew quite a few of organization who are doing much better and bigger things.

But well the stories are inspiring and engaging. People who enjoyed R.Bansal's pervious edtions will also enjoy this one. In a nutshell, It's a really good book and worth a read for every entrepreneur.

I enjoyed it and would recommend to get a copy at earliest. Motivating and Inspiring for anyone who is/wants to be a social entrepreneur or working in the similar field.

Nokia launches Mobile Money Client on its all major dev

Nokia has facilitated its vast range of mobile devices with mobile money client to in India. The mobile money service provided by Nokia offers the unbanked and under-banked groups to access financial servies through their mobile phones.

Nokia has made Mobile Money Client services to a major range of Nokia devices including high end Symbian smartphone devices, Nokia´s Series 40 feature phones, as well as the Series 30 entry level devices and support both keyboard, touch and combined devices.

Nokia has already providing its mobile financial services initiative by partnering with Union Bank of India (UBI), Yes Bank, Obopay and a wide range of merchants, retailers and business correspondents. The services, called Union Bank Money and Mobile Money Services by Yes Bank, are already available in several regions and are being rolled out across India in the forthcoming quarters.

Consumers will have the option of choosing and subscribing to either Union Bank Money or YES Bank Mobile Money Services from their Nokia devices. The app can be activated at Nokia retail and other outlets, which are also, authorized banking correspondents of Yes Bank and/or Union Bank of India.

Mobile Money services eliminate dependence on the physical presence of a branch or availability of internet banking services.

Data by InsightVAS.

Unwanted Calls may soon become history

The end of unwanted texts and calls from marketing executives might be near. Last year, TRAI had announced that calling phone numbers registered in the Do-Not-Call Registry (over a 100 million mobile phone users) would invoke a first fine of Rs and up to Rs 2.5 lakh for the sixth offense, after which any failure to comply would lead to a 2 year blacklist.

Previously, penalties stood at Rs 500 and Rs 1000. This powerful measure had not been legislated, even after 4 (missed) deadlines. Now, according to an official's statement to the Economic Times, this measure might be formally passed by end June.

The new rules will let you screen out all telemarketing calls, while opting to receive SMSs, which can also be filtered by your area of choice, ranging from banking and financial products to real estate, education, health, consumer goods, automobiles, communication, entertainment, tourism and leisure.

Further, you won't be receiving this text messages at odd hours - the 9PM to 9 AM telemarketing text window will be closed. This will also be applicable to unregistered customers.

The TRAI recently sent a new communication to the Indian Department of Telecom, asking for completion of registering telemarketers with the '140' number series, an easy way to spot unsolicited commercial calls.

However, BSNL is asking for more time (till the end of the calendar year)to upgrade to the new ten-digit numbers starting with 140.

'The delay is due to BSNL - most of their switching infrastructure is old and it will be challenge for them to get it ready to handle the new numbering series on landlines. On the mobile side, the infrastructure is largely in place across all operators," explained Rajan Mathews, who heads the Cellular Operators Association of India, the industry lobby representing all GSM players.

There have also been reports of more powers in curbing erring telemarketers. Action on spam SMS and telemarketing scenario was held up due to the legal issues between regulators and the Department of Telecom.

Data from InsightVAS