Mediaboss Marketing

MANILA, Philippines Months after Friendster was relaunched as a social discovery and gaming platform, Multiply announced that it will shut down its social networking and content sharing services to shift its focus to online shopping.

In an announcement posted on the website, Multiply chief executive officer Stefan Magdalinski said users will no longer be able to share photos, videos and blogs starting December 1.

Magdalinski believes that other websites will do a better job serving you than we can.

Facebook currently leads the pack in the social media race with over 900 million followers.

From December 1st, we will unfortunately no longer be able to support Multiply in its current form notably we will be removing the social networking and content sharing part of Multiply (photos, videos, blogs, social messaging, etc.). We have decided to discontinue providing and hosting these services, as we have concluded that other Internet sites who are committed to social networking services will do a better job serving you than we can.

For our existing users of social networking features, we will be providing easy ways for you to either download your stuff (photos, blogs, content, etc.), or migrate it to other online services. Well announce the precise details shortly. It will be your choice whether to download, migrate or just let your content lapse (and get deleted).

For our existing commerce users (both buyers and sellers) in Indonesia and the Philippines, there will be no action required.

Magdalinski said Multiply will now focus on improving its online shopping capability, citing its 350 million consumers in Indonesia and the Philippines.

I suspect that many of you will not like the news, and I am sorry to have to deliver it now. I hope that you will be able to understand the reasons for our decision and thank you for being a part of the Multiply community over the past eight years, he said.

Social networking pioneer Friendster discontinued its services in 2009 as it lost ground to Facebook. The website instead focused on allowing users to play games and earn points to buy virtual goods.

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Multiply to shut down social networking services

Time to transfer those photos and videos.

Mutliply.com announced on Thursday that it will stop its social networking functions in December, choosing to focus instead on its electronic commerce operations in Indonesia and the Philippines.

From December 1st, we will unfortunately no longer be able to support Multiply in its current form - notably we will be removing the social networking and content sharing part of Multiply (photos, videos, blogs, social messaging, etc.), Stefan Magdalinski, chief executive officer at Multiply Global, said in a statement posted on its website.

With the rise of Facebook as the dominant player in the social networking arena, Multiply had sought to differentiate itself from competitors by highlighting itself as the social shopping hub for online marketers.

For our existing users of social networking features, we will be providing easy ways for you to either download your stuff (photos, blogs, content, etc), or migrate it to other online services, he noted, saying that they will announce the file migration details soon.

Here is the original post:
Multiply.com quits social networking

Published: Aug. 8, 2012 at 6:00 PM

NEW YORK, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Social networking is quickly making the jump to mobile as more U.S. smartphone users turn to their devices to check social Web sites, a research study found.

By the end of this year, nearly 82 million U.S. mobile users -- more than a quarter of the country's mobile population -- are expected to use a social networking site on their phone at least monthly, research firm eMarketer reported.

By 2014, eMarketer estimates, nearly half of the total U.S. mobile population will be mobile social networkers.

Facebook is leading the way as nearly 70 million people will access the site from their phones each month this year, the study found.

By 2014 about four in 10 mobile users and nearly two-thirds of smartphone users will check Facebook on mobile devices, eMarketer said.

The study was based on the analysis of survey and traffic data from research firms and regulatory agencies, historical trends, company-specific data, and demographic and socioeconomic factors, the firm said.

Excerpt from:
Social networking said going more mobile

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Current Caller ID, a new, free app that launched Wednesday for Android phones, applies social media and analytics to traditional phone calls.

For example, if a person or business calls you and they aren't in your address book, Current will check the Web for a matching phone number and display the name on your phone's screen. Sometimes the data didn't display before I picked up the call, but the app updated it afterward -- the search for a match must have taken longer than it did for me to pick up the phone.

When you link your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn accounts to the app, it will display callers' latest status updatse or Twitter messages when they ring you. I found that feature worked pretty consistently.

If you're interested in analyzing your calling and texting habits with friends, click on the "stats" tab in the app and it will tell you how you communicate, displaying a pie chart of incoming and outgoing calls and texts. You can access the statistics for any of your recent calls.

The stats will also tell you when it's best to text or call your contact based on your interaction. I found it interesting to see which friends I text and call more and vice versa, but this information won't be essential for most users.

I did run into one problem that I found distracting. When I returned back to my smartphone after being away, Current Caller ID would alert me that I missed 26 -- or some other large number -- of calls. It wasn't an error, because I had missed a number of calls over a period of time, but not that many since I had last checked my phone. The app should only have told me how many calls I missed since I last used my phone, rather than all of the calls I had missed in a few weeks time.

Current Caller ID won't replace your smartphone's default telephone application or address book. You still need to use your phone's default app to dial out, but Current will override it for incoming calls. Tighter integration into the smartphone's default telephone application would make Current Caller ID more valuable, but overall it was a welcome addition to my phone and one that I won't delete.

Nick Barber covers general technology news in both text and video for IDG News Service. E-mail him at Nick_Barber@idg.com and follow him on Twitter at @nickjb.

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Android App Combines Social Networking, Phone Calls, Analytics