Barry Diller, the Chairman and CEO of IAC, was the keynote speaker at the Media Summit yesterday and left me scratching my head a little. But hey, the man has had an amazing career, so maybe he’s right about much of what he said and knows best. Here’s my two cents worth anyway.
On social networking: “Match.com is our play in social networking…a pure social network site–not that they are of value–no one has yet proved it is the easiest advertising medium. Pure social network is an upgrade from the princess telephone teenagers used to talk on for hours and hours. I do think, however, it is a great promotional vehicle. Match.com got into trouble because it added social networking, that flirting element and that friend thing. We put all these bells and whistles on the service, and confused our audience…now we have had a turn around.”
– Yes, all sites are social networks. After all, the Internet is a social network of computers connecting the people who sit behind them. So yea, Match.com in essence is a subcategory of a “pure” social network and it is indeed social networking in the sense that here are people connecting/interacting.
“not that they are of value?” Mmmm, he wouldn’t have acquired MySpace for the price tag it was sold for? I find that VERY hard to believe. Btw, what happened to the business directed social networking site ZeroDegrees.com that they purchased in 2004? It seems that as a result low traction they have pulled the plug on the site. RIP.
“Pure social network is an upgrade from the princess telephone teenagers used to talk on for hours and hours.” I think he’s missing the bigger picture. Many pure social networks with their massive user base will become “social portals” and people will have much more to do on them than just “talk on for hours and hours”.
Article found here at PaidContent.org.
Peace.
