AOL and MySpace May Get Together...Permanently
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_05/b3969023.htm
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good MySpace picture to use, so you're all gonna have to live with the yellow AIM dude hugging the AOL eye. I agree, it is lovely indeed. Anyway, this week I am
going to talk about an exciting possible merger between two communication/networking interfaces we are all highly fond of. In an effort to combine the two social network giants, AOL (owned by Time Warner) is looking to purchase MySpace (owned by News Corp). This in turn will provide AOL's extremely popular Instant Messenger service (known to all of us as AIM) with a whole new platform "to better enable its users to share and create content" (Fine, 3 March 2006). Think of it as all the personal material one puts into creating their MySpace page, combined with all the communication features offered by AIM. I think this is a great idea because it will allow people to actually talk to one another instead of leaving messages for the person on their message board. It's also bound to be a big step for bands, comedians, and any other entertainers on MySpace trying to promote themselves. Fans that are into the entertainer(s) will actually have the chance to chat live with them, and vice-versa. From a promotional perspective, this is huge. And just when you thought MySpace couldn't get any more personal...
*On a side note, I have definitely noticed that MySpace is really big for middle school and high school kids, along with kids that go to community college (which is just 13th grade anyway) or commute to another local college. Facebook reigns dominant at universities populated by kids who live at their school.
If this acquisition actually goes through, it is sure to be the means to resuscitate AOL from their slip into financial statement mediocrity. Since the rise of broadband services, AOL has struggled to compete with cheaper service providers such as NetZero. Many others opt for nothing at all, and just stick with Mozilla and Internet Explorer as their internet browsers. Since AIM, arguably the most popular aspect of AOL's services, is free, I think it's time AOL really took advantage of the popularity of their service. Combined with MySpace, the advertising revenues AOL is bound to receive should be quite substantial. Who knows? Is it possible that down the road AOL will start charging money for its Instant Messaging services? I certainly hope not. What do you fine people think? Be sure to post some comments.
-Nick
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good MySpace picture to use, so you're all gonna have to live with the yellow AIM dude hugging the AOL eye. I agree, it is lovely indeed. Anyway, this week I am
going to talk about an exciting possible merger between two communication/networking interfaces we are all highly fond of. In an effort to combine the two social network giants, AOL (owned by Time Warner) is looking to purchase MySpace (owned by News Corp). This in turn will provide AOL's extremely popular Instant Messenger service (known to all of us as AIM) with a whole new platform "to better enable its users to share and create content" (Fine, 3 March 2006). Think of it as all the personal material one puts into creating their MySpace page, combined with all the communication features offered by AIM. I think this is a great idea because it will allow people to actually talk to one another instead of leaving messages for the person on their message board. It's also bound to be a big step for bands, comedians, and any other entertainers on MySpace trying to promote themselves. Fans that are into the entertainer(s) will actually have the chance to chat live with them, and vice-versa. From a promotional perspective, this is huge. And just when you thought MySpace couldn't get any more personal...*On a side note, I have definitely noticed that MySpace is really big for middle school and high school kids, along with kids that go to community college (which is just 13th grade anyway) or commute to another local college. Facebook reigns dominant at universities populated by kids who live at their school.
If this acquisition actually goes through, it is sure to be the means to resuscitate AOL from their slip into financial statement mediocrity. Since the rise of broadband services, AOL has struggled to compete with cheaper service providers such as NetZero. Many others opt for nothing at all, and just stick with Mozilla and Internet Explorer as their internet browsers. Since AIM, arguably the most popular aspect of AOL's services, is free, I think it's time AOL really took advantage of the popularity of their service. Combined with MySpace, the advertising revenues AOL is bound to receive should be quite substantial. Who knows? Is it possible that down the road AOL will start charging money for its Instant Messaging services? I certainly hope not. What do you fine people think? Be sure to post some comments.
-Nick
posted by Nick Panepinto at 6:50 PM
4 Comments:
Nick,
I sure hope that AOL does not start charging for their AIM service! However, I do agree that having AOL team up with MySpace is a very good idea. I also think that AOL would reap huge advertising dollars by teaming up with MySpace, since it is one of the top 5 most frequented websites today. I think that AOL and MySpace would compliment each other like you said. It would allow AOL users to create a more personal profile, as MySpace does. But with all the security issues going on with MySpace, such as underage girls being victims of sex crimes, is MySpace something AOL wants to get into? It will be interesting to see if this acquisition goes through!
I think that an acquisition between AOL and MySpace would be extremely beneficial for Time Warner. As most people know, MySpace has become extremely popular and is a great way to communicate with other people. However, I just finished posting a comment in reference to the security issues with MySpace. Although the website proves to be an effective way from a promotional perspective, I think it is important for the site to form new regulations. I do not have a definite opinion on this matter, because there are key advantages of the acquisition however there are still major disadvantages. The idea of AOL providing a new system in which even more personal information can be viewed by anyone in the world is a bit of a scary thought for me. I feel that new, strict rules should be implemented in order for this acquisition to occur.
This sounds like an obvious step for AOL. MySpace is huge with young people but the lack of ability for real time communication makes AIM the perfect match. This combination will make a very complete package of services, and if all goes well I see it pulling in some people from the Facebook crowd. As much as I was against the whole MySpace and Facebook thing, they do serve the purpose of bringing people together and therefore they aren't going away. Any attempt at charging for AIM service would be a huge strategic mistake for AOL. When you dominate a market, there’s no point in giving a reason for people to switch to one of the smaller rival services such as MSN messenger. Companies such as this would love nothing better than to give away free membership to gain market share. The advertising revenues should be enough to keep these services free of charge. I think we can look forward to even more cool features from these services in the coming years.
AOL teaming up with MySpace is a good move for both companies since they are both so extremely popular today. Both are top notch ways to communicate with people today and a merger would be huge. However, one problem I see is AOL does pride itself on its privacy issues. It is extremely secure and teaming up with MySpace, a website that really is not that secure at all, might be an issue for it. MySpace is a free service available to anybody who has a web browser and has been under fire recently for being breeding ground for child predators and what not. I think AOL would have to take the security issue on before completely a merger with MySpace at this point in time.
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