IP Democracy: Viacom to Enter Social Networking Business

Youth-oriented, MTV-owning Viacom plans to jump into the social networking business, but isn’t sure how to make money from it. Viacom CEO Tom Freston told a Reuters conference today that “I would expect within this year you’ll see some good social networking capabilities in our company.”

But it’s clear that Freston isn’t quite sure how to make money with a social networking site, such as MySpace (which Freston contends Viacom did not bid on, despite rumors to the contrary.) “You’re asking people to advertise between conversations between two people.”

Freston also seems concerned about advertiser reaction to indecency on such sites as MySpace, not the usual topic when it comes to the business of social networking. But, this is the company that produced the Janet-Jackson-Super-Bowl half-time show and is obviously still scarred from that episode.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on March 2, 2006 1:36 PM to IP Democracy