The "media locker" photo storage system on the newly redesigned Multiply.com.
(Credit: Multiply)Multiply, the small social network that acquired MSN Groups when Microsoft shuttered the product late last year, has launched a redesign.
In addition to a new news-feed-based homepage, there are now plug-ins for Google's Picasa and Microsoft's Windows Photo Gallery for easy syncing, a better auto-upload tool, and increased prominence of the "media locker" where members can store high-resolution versions of their photos.
Multiply, which has between 13 million and 14 million members, makes money from premium accounts, photo-printing services, and advertising on free accounts. The company says that right now, those three revenue streams are about even, but that with the updates it expects premium accounts and photo printing to take a bigger share.
Of nearly equal importance to Multiply's redesign is marketing: with its focus on photo storage, the company hopes to appeal to "digital moms" who want to share photos with close friends, maintain a backup of their high-resolution photos and do basic editing online, and turn their pictures into albums and scrapbooks.
The executives' rationale: as Facebook gets bigger and more public, a market is opening up for people who don't see it as a safe or private place to share photos of scenes along the lines of their kids in the bathtub. The revamped Multiply, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based company's execs hope, will have appeal as a sort of hybrid of a social network and a photo storage and printing site like Snapfish or Shutterfly.
An e-mail snafu has led to the leak of Microsoft's decision to shutter its MSN Groups service, according to LiveSide.net. It's not a surprise, as MSN Groups was one of the last vestiges of Microsoft's Web services strategy pre-Windows Live.
MSN Groups will be closing on February 21, 2009. It'll be replaced with a new service, Windows Live Groups, which debuts on November 17.
Here's the catch: The LiveSide post indicates MSN Groups will not be migrating to Windows Live Groups; the new Windows Live service will be different enough so that the transition wouldn't be a clean one. Instead, the LiveSide post says that existing MSN Groups will transition to community site Multiply--in other words, Multiply is effectively acquiring MSN Groups from Microsoft.
Representatives from Multiply, which said earlier this month that it has reached 10 million registered users, confirmed the news. Microsoft representatives released a longer statement: "It is true that we are planning to close the MSN Groups service on February 21, 2009 and will offer you the opportunity to move your group to our new partner service, Multiply. We understand the importance of keeping your group together, so we partnered with Multiply to create a migration process that moves your group to their service to preserve your online community and its history.
This post was updated at 4:30 p.m. PT with comment from Microsoft.
Multiply, a social network that has done a fine job of flying under the radar since its 2005 launch, has announced a new paid-account program that focuses on media storage. Called a "digital scrapbook," this premium feature will cost $19.95 annually.
Members who opt in to the "digital scrapbook" program will be able to store high-resolution photos, as well as videos up to 20 minutes long. They will also be able to surf the site without ads.
Multiply has also launched a tool that automatically uploads photos and videos to a private "locker," from users can choose content to share with friends. All Multiply profiles are friends-only, as the site promotes an aim of friends-and-family communication and media sharing.
The site also has a more "adult" focus than many social networks; the average age of active users ranges from the upper 20s to mid-30s. "We've never tried to be the hip, cool nightclub," Vice President Michael Gersh said to CNET News.com.
Multiply hit the 9 million member mark recently and will likely hit 10 million in July, still paltry compared to the likes of Facebook and MySpace. But executives say touting huge growth numbers would be contrary to the site's aim of connections between family and close friends, not random strangers or even acquaintances. Its members, according to Multiply numbers, post 2 million photos, 19,000 videos, and 55,000 blog entries every day.
"It's much more organized and meaningful than some explosive megasite," Gersh said. "People are sticking around."
- prev
- 1
- next
