MySpace Monthly Ad Revenues: $25 million February 10, 2007
Posted by David Kaye in : Social Networking, Stats , 17 comments
Mashable snags the most interesting tidbit from Rupert Murdoch’s keynote at the McGraw-Hill Digital Media Summit in New York: MySpace is currently doing $25 million per month in advertising revenue, at a growth rate of 30% per quarter.
How much of this is already accounted for as part of the $900m deal Google struck with News Corp is not immediately clear. Either way, that $580m purchase price is starting to look like more and more of a bargain as the months roll by.
Facebook Starts Selling Virtual Items February 8, 2007
Posted by David Kaye in : Social Networking , 43 comments
Facebook has just started testing the sale of virtual items. Dating site HotOrNot has allowed its users to buy virtual flowers for each other for a while now, and the now-defunct social network FunHi was probably the pioneer in this area, but this is the first time a successful major league social network has introduced such a scheme. Users can send their first for free, and pay $1 each after that.
I’m noticing a lot of negative comments in the TechCrunch thread from people who are convinced this is a stupid idea that won’t catch on. My prediction: they are going to make a lot of money. People have proven time and time again that they are perfectly willing to pay for things that show other people they care about each other. Facebook’s bling-starved environment has always been a little more sedate than the HTML-soaked MySpace, which is going to make this even more welcome to its users.
[via TechCrunch]
Sneakerplay: is this a joke? July 29, 2006
Posted by David Kaye in : Social Networking, Business , 16 commentsBack in the halcyon days of the last Web boom, a VC friend of mine told me about a genuine business plan he received for a company called OnlinePetrolStation.com. That was the worst online business idea I had ever heard - until now.
Gaia raises $9m in VC cash, invites donations! June 16, 2006
Posted by David Kaye in : Social Networking, Avatars, Business , 1 comment so far
Online avatar based social networking yada yada site has raised about $9m from Benchmark, among others, reports Paidcontent. I’m not sure yet what’s going to differentiate this from Meez, WeeWorld, Evil Twin and the rest of its venture-backed brethren, but I’ll tell you one thing that sticks in my craw - they’re asking for donations.
Guys, there’s no shame in making money selling virtual items. If you’re going to do it, call a spade a spade. You’re a business - sell stuff. Asking for ‘donations’ when you’re a multi-million dollar venture backed business is at worst sleazy, and at best misleading.
Interview with a MySpace roleplayer
Posted by David Kaye in : MySpace, Social Networking , 49 comments
I got in touch with the girl behind the roleplaying profile, and she agreed to answer a few questions about what she does and why. The answers are pretty interesting.
MySpace Roleplaying June 15, 2006
Posted by David Kaye in : MySpace, Social Networking , 28 comments When someone mentions online roleplaying, your first thought tends to be of dragons, wizards and a certain online world with a population roughly the size of Denmark.A quick surf around MySpace, however, reveals a different form of roleplaying entirely. I’m not talking about the inexplicable thousands of fake Paris Hiltons. Look more closely, and you’ll see something quite distinct from that is going on.
