Daily Marauder

ONLINE/INTERACTIVE MEDIA

Facebook is working on an artist platform to be launched later this year, which in essence is supposed to be better than what MySpace allows with its platform. The platform will allows bands and labels to create artists pages, and allow various widgets to be embedded for music promotion, organizing events, etc. Among those widgets would be iLike, the most popular app inside Facebook, but will also include iTunes widgets for sampling, and eventually buying music through Apple. (http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-facebook-working-on-a-music-platform-for-bands-not-itunes-killer-but-my/ 10/5)

Marauder seal of approval on this one.  Rather than trying to beat Apple their own game, Facebook wants to leverage Apple’s popularity by incorporating iTunes-based widgets into user’s pages.  In addition, they seem to be gunning for MySpace in their attempt to become the social networking destination for music. 

Dear Facebook,

I was looking for someone to come along and make my life more organized. . .and there you were.  Love at first sight. 

xxx.

Marauder

And one more thing, here’s a fun Facebook application to try out: Qloud.  This application syncs your iTunes library with your Facebook profile allowing users to listen to their library music anywhere.  Additionally, friends can see what you’re listening to at the moment without the painful one-by-one addition necessary to an application such as iLike. 

The time spent by U.S. Web surfers on Yahoo, AOL and MSN-Windows Live is declining by as much as 10%, as online audiences increasingly turn to blogs, social-networking sites and other user-generated media. So far, Google is the exception, with a jump of some 57% in total time spent. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071008/ap_on_hi_te/declining_portals 10/8)

MSNBC.com is making its first acquisition in its 11-year history by buying Newsvine.com, a small but innovative player in what is known as “participatory journalism.” Newsvine.com pays users for their stories and displays articles based on user rankings. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21138371/ 10/8)

Fox Interactive, which oversees News Corp.’s MySpace social-networking site, says the unit’s revenue will top $1 billion for the fiscal year. Advertisers are making bigger investments, according to revenue head Michael Barrett. “Marketers are saying, ‘Social media is on my budget.’” (http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/adtrack/2007-10-07-adtrack-myspace_N.htm 10/8)

Barry Diller’s Ask.com is entering a deal with the CBS syndicated celebrity show “The Insider” to integrate search results into an on-air segment, aiming to boost use of the search engine. “Insider” host Pat O’Brien will do a segment on top celebrity-related searches on Ask.com. (http://www.tvweek.com/news/2007/10/insider_debuts_weekly_segment.php 10/5)

The Web series “Prom Queen,” produced by former Disney chief Michael Eisner, is heading to France and Japan under deals that will revamp the short Web films into programming for everything from television to DVDs. Eisner’s new media studio Vuguru will co-produce localized versions. (http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0524149320071007 10/7)

Four years after starting its popular annual “D: All Things Digital” conference on technology, the Wall Street Journal plans to expand the franchise to several gatherings a year on several topics, along with tie-in blogs. Such events can yield several hundred thousand dollars in profit. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/business/media/08journal.html 10/8)