MTV Networks Acquires Social-Networking Co.
MTV Networks acquires Social Project, developer of Flux.
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/22/2008 12:28:00 PM
MTV Networks acquired Social Project, a company it partnered with to develop the Flux social-media platform used on many MTVN sites.
The acquisition came as MTVN is seeking to bolster its social-networking features across its portfolio of networks and Web-native companies.
With each new Web-site launch -- and many relaunches, including Atom.com and last week’s Colbert Nation -- Flux capability is added.
With the acquisition complete, MTVN is expected to accelerate the integration of Flux into its other sites. Currently, Flux is available on approximately 35 of the company’s sites, including MTV.com, VH1.com and ComedyCentral.com, with the goal of expanding it to most others, excluding Nickelodeon’s family of sites, which are geared toward children.
Rather than competing with the likes of social-networking behemoths Facebook and MySpace, MTVN is looking to cooperate with them. The company is planning Facebook applications to try to bring Flux into the Facebook fold, and it allows users on the Flux-supported sites to share video or other content on their other social-networking profiles.
Newly appointed MTVN senior vice president and general manager for social media Josh Dern said the entry point for Flux is different than sites such as Facebook, with users finding Flux and signing up for it through content, be it on Colbert Nation or a music video on MTV.com.
“We are more about content discovery than we are about community,” Dern added.
As an example, Dern said users will need to create a Flux profile in order to leave a comment on a video on Colbert Nation.
When someone signs up a for a Flux profile, it works on all Flux-supported sites, which includes more than 1,300 non-MTVN sites, including fan pages for Sheryl Crow, Lil’ Jon and others. Flux currently has approximately 7.6 million members across all of its sites.
MTVN had held a minority stake in Social Project. Executives for MTVN declined to comment on the new stake it holds or the cost of the acquisition.
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