MySpace, Facebook Rule: Does Multiply.com Want To ‘Sell Out’?
If the MySpace rasion d’etre is to promote the unfettered creation of user-generated content, wouldn’t advertisers be missing out on the real MySpace experience if they advertise against “non” MySpace content. Moreover, do MySpace friends even visit the “non” MySpace protected areas in MySpace?, I asked John Trimble, SVP Branded Sales, FOX Interactive Media, in the Fall of 2006. Trimble made a “protected area” brand sales pitch at an IAB Summit, asserting that MySpace is where the “sizzle” is and putting the “best” MySpace face forward, a sanitized one.
Fifteen months later, as MySpace plows ahead with its safe, “non” MySpace “mainstream,” content agenda, The New York Times now also wonders if News corp.’s crossover dreams are compatible with the desires of Tom Anderson’s 221,416,999 friends:
The original content may draw advertisers who are wary of placing a marketing message next to a messy profile page, but it is unclear whether the users who make MySpace the most-viewed Web site in America will want to watch TV episodes and chat with friends on the same site.
The MySpace nemesis, Facebook, believes it has accomplished an integrated social network brand advertising coup, by using Facebook users, often unbeknownst to the users themselves, as smiling product spokespeople in high-quality brand ads on users’ “friends’” Facebook profiles.
What about Multiply.com, a site launched almost four years ago, which “effectively defined the new field of social communications,” according to founder and CEO Peter Pezaris?
Multiply.com obtained a $16.6 million Series B round of venture capital financing last fall and I chatted with Pezaris and David Scott Carlick, the Vantage Point Venture Partners Managing Director which joined the Multipy board as part of the firm’s investment.
Pezaris and company continue to put forth a strong value proposition for users, but what about for high quality brand advertisers that are essential for the success of Multiply’s traditional media monetization model?
Carlick told me in September he looks to Multiply–and all the social neworking players–to further educate brand advertisers about the under utilized power of reaching consumers in new, peer-to-peer environments where the users create all the content. Multiply sported Google AdSense, but Carlick derided it as “backfill” which does not enhance user experience. Both Carlick and Pezaris indicated to me they envisage a Multiply monetized by high quality brand advertisers seeking to directly engage with real people as they interact with friends and family in their own personal online spaces.
MySpace and Facebook are apparently succeeding in educating brands about the real power of real people.
Where does Multiply stand four months later on its drive for higher CPM, brand advertising? Pezaris’ own Multiply profile page sports low CPM style banner ads for the likes of ringtones and domain name sales AND “backfill” Google AdSense.
Pezaris is now touting “numerous changes to Multiply with a focus on site optimization, such as an Ajax based interface for browsing therough photos within an album.”
Pezaris is particularly proud of his focus on the Multiply user experience, come what may. The Multiply CEO told me:
One side effect of this change is that we are knowingly deflating our page view numbers and ratings and rankings. Unlike other social networking and media sites that are primarily focused on numbers for the sake of a quick sell out, we are in this for the long haul and user experience continues to be our number one product development priority!
Which social networking sites are looking for a “quick sell out”? MySpace is long sold and Facebook is not for sale, we hear time and time again. BUT, what about Multiply.com, really?
What is the real end game time table for Pezaris and Multiply investors? How/where/when does the real money kick-in for the Multiply.com business model? Multiply does not have the levels of traffic or brand recognition that MySpace and Facebook enjoy.
How long will investors continue to fund Multiply.com? Will Multiply soon be looking for a “quick” way out?
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