Webware

Social site Buzznet, whose CEO makes it clear that he's hoping to compete with the likes of MySpace and MTV on the pop culture front, has nabbed a new executive from TMZ.com. Alan Citron, former general manager of the AOL-owned entertainment site, will become head of "special projects" at the company.

In the world of celebrity news, saying you've hired a TMZ alum is kind of like saying you've hired a Googler. But it's not a completely serendipitous catch: before TMZ, Citron was senior vice president of marketing at Movielink, which also counted current Buzznet CEO Tyler Goldman among its ranks.

Buzznet's strategy has been mixing a social network with editorial content rolled up from users as well as preexisting blogs that the site has acquired, like Stereogum and Idolator. An investment from Universal Music Group has given the site access to the record label's catalog, too.

Citron, who got his start as an editor and writer for the Los Angeles Times, has also been among the executive ranks of USA Network Interactive, Ticketmaster, and MusicNet.

Buzznet, the social network whose CEO told CNET News.com in April that he'd like to build "the next Viacom," has launched a sister site: Celebuzz, a community for enthusiasts of celebrity news and gossip. It's been in private beta for some time now.

Already dominated by the likes of Perez Hilton, Popsugar, and the AOL-owned TMZ.com, celebrity gossip is a niche of the Web that some might say doesn't need another outlet. But Celebuzz general manager Karina Kogan told CNET News.com that it doesn't matter. Research showed that celebrity gossip fans are more than happy to use "more than one source to get the same exact story. They're interested in different points of view, and frankly, they're happy to look at the same photo ten times, just in different settings."

She also asserted that Celebuzz offers something new. "There is no community dedicated to celebrity out there," Kogan said. "There are news aggregators, there are blogs, but there is no community for the celebrity fans."

(Credit: Celebuzz)

Celebuzz features a full-out social network with user-created content in addition to editorial content coming from in-house reporters, partner bloggers, paparazzi photo agencies, celebrities themselves, and "expert panelists" like celebrities' personal trainers and plastic surgeons. At launch, Kogan said, it's already the "fourth-largest celebrity site on the Internet, period," following People.com, TMZ, and Yahoo's OMG.

Buzznet itself focuses on music, but had already inked "deep partnerships" (read: borderline acquisitions) with celebrity gossip blogs Just Jared and A Socialite's Life. The two social networks are not yet interoperable, but Kogan said that's on the way.

Still, she said, they're meant to be kept separate. "We definitely don't want to shove celebrity media down the throats of music fans," Kogan explained.

Universal Music Group has invested an undisclosed amount in pop-culture social network Buzznet.

Beyond the financial investment, this means that Universal artists will post promotional blogs on Buzznet, and the social site will have access to the label's music and video catalog.

Last week, Buzznet CEO Tyler Goldman told CNET News.com to expect a partnership announcement that would bring more audio content to the site.

According to a release from the two companies, this is "one of the first times that a music company will be directly involved in developing editorial programming for a social-media site, with both companies sharing in the revenue."

It's more extensive than Universal's partnerships with other social networks; the label has licensed its catalog to MySpace.com for its MySpace Music endeavor, as well as to music-focused social-media site Imeem.

With only 10 million active members--that's less than a tenth the size of News Corp.'s MySpace--Buzznet has some growth to do before it reaches its goal of being an MTV-caliber pop-culture influencer. The site has been aggressively bolstering its editorial content, acquiring music blog Stereogum and launching sister blog Videogum, with several hip blogging veterans at the helm.

Earlier this week, Buzznet announced that it had purchased another music blog, Idolator, from former owner Gawker Media.

Goldman hinted that more partnerships with big media companies were on the way for Buzznet. That's good, because having a single label behind a community and editorial site is a bit questionable.

Not only does Buzznet own music blogs like Stereogum and Idolator, but it also has deep partnerships with irreverent gossip blogs such as A Socialite's Life and Just Jared.

Let's hope that Universal's investment doesn't start tainting Buzznet's snappy editorial.