23 Jul, 2007 by David
Word about social network Hi5’s $20 million financing leaked earlier today. But that isn’t it for social networking funding news. We hear it from a good source, but without confirmation by the company, that Tagged has raised its own $15 million round, on a $102 million pre-money valuation.
We do not know who made the investment. This is Tagged’s third round of financing. They previously raised two rounds - $1.5 from angel investors in September 2005, and $7 million from Mayfield three months later.
[Big Money For Tagged, Too]
11 Jul, 2007 by David
Social networks are spawning a generation of internet tarts, research suggests: online consumers with little brand loyalty and no qualms about keeping several sites on the go at once.
Users of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are “chronically unfaithful”, a survey by Parks Associates, the analysts, has found. Half of users regularly use more than one site, most of which are free. One in six actively uses three or more.
This phenomenon of “network promiscuity” extends across web commerce. Analysts say that it is symptomatic of a new consumer scepticism over traditional branding.
After having to keep redoing my profile from Friendster, to Myspace, to Facebook, to every single other site out there that’s rebranding as a social network, marketers will face a difficult challenge in keeping and attracting users.
[Read: Websites betrayed by unfaithful users - Times Online]
