xing

Daily Tidbits: LiveJournal's users are 'passionate' and shrinking

Longstanding social network LiveJournal published a report Friday that asked its users what makes the site unique. Written by a Ph.D. candidate in the Media, Culture, and Communication department at New York University, the report contends that a defining characteristic of LiveJournal users is their "passion" for connecting with others. "LiveJournal's feature set encourages real, engaged, committed, long-term interaction with the site and friends met through the site, creating passionate users who care deeply about LiveJournal," the report said. Unfortunately, many of those "passionate" users seem to be moving to Facebook at a rapid rate.… Read more

The next round of the social-networking craze

Mash, Yahoo's way of quietly saying farewell to Yahoo 360, is at first glance a somewhat uninspired attempt to catch up with Facebook. Even the name is boring--Mash. Don't mix it up, by the way, with Mosh, Nokia's mobile networking site (currently in beta) and Mashable, the social-networking blog. Mash (invite-only as of now) looks like a cross between Facebook, MySpace and Netvibes--and it also has a bit of wiki DNA: Anyone you grant permissions to can edit your profile or add modules they think are relevant to your profile. Besides that, nothing new.

To be … Read more

Rumor: Xing to acquire Plaxo?

TechCrunch reported late on Friday about a hot new rumor in the social media space. The Germany-based business networking site Xing, according to TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, may be in talks to acquire online address book management company Plaxo. The deal is rumored to be in the $250 million range--a significant buy indeed.

Plaxo, for some background, was founded in 2002 by Napster co-founder Sean Parker. Since then, the company claims to have hit 15 million members (as of September 2006). It synchronizes primarily with Microsoft Outlook address books, but has also formed deals with companies like Yahoo and AOL'… Read more

LinkedIn rival Xing embarks upon a transatlantic trek

Here in the U.S., there's really only one big player in the sector of social networking sites geared toward professionals eager to make business connections: LinkedIn. Other business-oriented social networks have emerged, but none have shown signs of really eating into LinkedIn's stateside market share. That, however, is what Xing is trying to change.

Xing, formerly known as the less catchy OpenBC (BC stands for "Business Club") got its start in Germany and now boasts 1.69 million members. The company's moved beyond Germany largely through acquisitions and partnerships; when it expanded to Spain, … Read more