Communication becoming more easy and economy which will help to build various social network easily.
MySpace will give its millions of members the ability to engage in free voice chats via the MySpace instant messaging service, thanks to a partnership with VOIP provider Skype.
News Corp.'s MySpace and eBay Inc. subsidiary Skype will announce the beta version of the service, called MySpace IM with Skype Wednesday at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.
MySpace, the world's largest social network, has about 110 million monthly active users, while Skype has about 220 million registered users, the companies said.
MySpaceIM with Skype will mesh MySpace's IM service, which has an installed base of 25 million users, with Skype's Internet voice communications services, the companies said.
MySpaceIM with Skype will be released generally in November, along with the ability to let people also link their MySpace profiles with their Skype accounts.
The voice chat service will let MySpace users call others in the social network as well as Skype users. MySpaceIM with Skype will not require users to download any additional Skype software.
MySpace will launch the voice chat service in 20 countries where it has "localized" communities. Meanwhile, Skype will allow its users to link their accounts to their MySpace profile worldwide except in Japan, China and Taiwan.
Beyond the free voice chat service, MySpace users will also get the option of buying other premium Skype products, such as SkypeOut for generating calls from Skype to outside lines, as well as SkypeIn for receiving calls from outside lines.
MySpace Says: Skype Me :
MySpace and Skype are teaming up to create the world's largest online voice network. MySpace members will be able to make Internet phone calls using Skype's telephony network and MySpace's instant message program.
MySpace says 110 million unique users come to its site each month, and that 8 million people actively use its IM service. Some 220 million people have downloaded Skype's software. The two companies have been talking about a partnership since the days when they were independent companies--more than two years ago. They began coding in July and plan to launch a test version of the joint service next month.
The news comes on the heels of ebay's (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) $1.4 billion write-off related to its $2.6 billion acquisition of Skype in 2005. That impairment will be reflected in ebay's third-quarter earnings announcement tomorrow. Ebay executives are vexed about the way the service has worked out for the online auction company. "Skype has not performed as expected. We are disappointed that we had to take the impairment, but it is a more accurate reflection of the value of Skype as an asset," says ebay spokesperson Hani Durzy.
This new deal will no doubt score new users for Skype, but whether the company can turn them into paying customers remains questionable. Ebay's "Skype Me" button allows buyers and sellers to call each other about auctions, but cross-pollination has been sluggish, and not very lucrative. So far, Skype has brought in a mere $285 million in revenue for ebay in the past 12 months--a piddly $1.30 per user. (This does not include the latest financial results, which ebay is slated to release on Wednesday.)
Similar to Skype's traditional service, calls between MySpace and Skype members will be free. Users will pay a fee, however, to place calls to mobile phones and land lines, as well as use voice mail and call forwarding services. Skype will handle the billing. Revenue from the fees will be split between MySpace and Skype, though specific terms were not disclosed.
The real value of this deal seems to be exposure. Skype, which is widely used in Europe, has had a hard time building its customer base in the U.S. MySpace has had great success here but faces increased competition from players such as Bebo, Friendster and Hi5 abroad. Skype and MySpace users hardly overlap. Only 6.7% of Skype users also use MySpace IM, and only 2.6% of MySpace IM users also use Skype.
Widgets by Ingenio, Jaxtr, Jangl and Jajah have been available for some time on MySpace (as well as other social networks). None of them, however, have been sanctioned by MySpace, let alone built into its technology foundation. As a result, such voice widgets have so far been rather clunky to use and not very reliable.
In contrast, Skype will be built right into MySpace. Users will be able to call their friends by clicking a link beneath a member's profile picture, or in the IM menu. The partnership also works in reverse. Skype is adding a MySpace window into its application so that when users sign on, they can also sign into, or join, MySpace.
To cut back on spam and security risks, MySpace will provide a caller ID, which lets users click to a person's profile before accepting a call, as well as prevent non-friends from calling.
One big question remains: Will this deal help MySpace win its fight with Facebook--or is Skype working on a similar partnership with the social networking site? Skype executives are coy.
"Our vision is to enable the world's conversations. We want to be available wherever people want those conversations to take place," says Don Albert, vice president and head of Skype North America.
Looks like the social networking phone call wars have begun
Can MySpace And Skype Work For Business?
Social networking megasite MySpace is teaming with communications company Skype to link their networks, a partnership that potentially connects millions of users together for free VoIP telephone calls. The move brings more low-cost communications tools to Internet users, but solution providers say MySpace's poor reputation among business users makes it unlikely the new offering will gain any enterprise traction.
"MySpace is looked at as a very poor man's Facebook. It's unstructured, chaotic and more known for predatory precautions with underage users than real application infrastructure," said Narinder Singh, co-founder of Appirio, a San Francisco software development and services firm that focuses on emerging, on-demand technologies. "The combination is less appealing than Skype on its own. I'd see WebEx or other collaboration technologies as more natural and synergistic partners for Skype."
Dubbed "MySpaceIM with Skype," the new alliance was announced today at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, a gathering focused on technologies and business models that exploit new Web frontiers. At this evening's keynote session, MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe and MySpace owner Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp., will address the conference audience.
Skype took a beating earlier this month as its CEO resigned and auction site eBay wrote off an impairment charge of $1.4 billion related to the rocky acquisition, which hasn't resulted in the business synergies eBay initially envisioned. Analysts have suggested that a social networking site like MySpace would be a more natural parent for Skype, but today's alliance falls well short of such a sweeping restructuring. Both Skype and MySpace already offer their services for free; Wednesday's alliance means MySpace users will be able to use the service natively from within MySpace, without downloading any additional software.
Skype's VoIP service, available for free when users make Skype-to-Skype voice calls, could save money for businesses willing to adopt it as a communications infrastructure, but the MySpace integration is unlikely to be an enterprise selling point. Entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, who is quick to adopt low-cost "Web 2.0" tools and networking services when he sees a business use in them, said he has a MySpace profile but rarely makes business connections though it -- for that, he relies on business-friendlier services like LinkedIn and Twitter.
"The problem is that when people use social networking sites, they're in a totally different mindset. They're in a socializing mindset," said Calacanis, who is CEO of search engine start-up Mahalo.
Appirio's Singh doubts MySpace's utility for professionals, but he does see enterprise potential in Skype.
"We do a substantial amount of work with Salesforce.com Service and Support and many call centers that have CTI (computer-telephony) integration," Singh said. "With Skype we see the potential for call centers with integrated voice/chat with very little or no actual infrastructure cost."
Whether or not MySpace gains enterprise ground, solution providers do see a growing role for "Web 2.0" technologies and networking tools.
"Any tool that can enhance the way people communicate with each other is a bonus," said Stuart Crawford, director of business development for Canadian IT services firm IT Matters. "Solution providers must be able to inform their clients that this technology may not be something that they want to have as their main communication strategy, but as a tool in the tool chest of business, it is one of those additional items that can bring a competitive advantage."
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