Following six and seven figure monetization deals for MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook, everyone seems to want to capitalize on the online social-networking industry. Multiply.com is no exception; they want their piece of the monetary pie.
Perhaps that is because Multiply.com is not one of the online social-networking sites that received monetization deals that were in the million, and sometimes billion-dollar range. What are the aforementioned social-networking sites doing differently from Multiply.com to receive such sizable monetization?
Multiply.com was launched in March 2004 and is the flagship website of Multiply, Inc., which is based in Boca Raton, Florida. The site claims itself to have “effectively defined the new field of social communications”, yet it is not a household name in online social networking.
Multiply CEO Peter Pezaris told internetnews.com his network is a place where adults can communicate with their offline network of friends. Perhaps the reason that it has not shared the success of MySpace or Facebook is because of the fact that the networking is based around people you already know, and is intended for an older demographic.
Online social-networking sites like MySpace and Facebook allow the users to actually network socially by requesting the friendship of a complete stranger, or someone who is a mutual friend. In that regard it would make sense that these sites are popular, because they are not strictly limited to people you know offline.
Also, it seems as though Multiply.com is centralized around the digital video, blogs, and photos of an individual rather than socially networking. The digital media found on a Multiply.com memeber’s profile can only be viewed by members that they have approved.
MySpace focuses on digital aspects, as well as comedy, events, music, forums, groups, and even classifieds, and a completely personalized profile. It boasts over 100 million registered users, and some members have millions of people in their extended network alone. Whereas Facebook connects social networks such as universities, companies, and even geographic locations and has over 10 million registered users.
Multiply only has around 2 million registered users, but does continue to grow, and in July they received 468, 000 visitors from the US to their site. MySpace however, in the same month received 54.5 million visitors. MySpace effectively receives about 100 times more users per month than Multiply.
The consumer media company YouTube boasts an enormous 100 million views a day, again trumping Multiply. The popularity of the site YouTube is based upon the fact that it gives the freedom to share whatever digital media a user wants with the entire community, or any visitors to the site. Only the network of people that they approve, and not the general public may see media, which is added to the account of a Multiply user.
Even industry analysts, Emily Riley of Jupitermedia and Jessica Simpson of the Yankee Group, said they had never heard of it. Riley also states that Multiply might be trying to do too much.
Perhaps if Multiply branched out and allowed users of the site to actually network socially, they would reach the status of the sites that do.
Add to 
Autmn Davis is a staff writer for Murdok covering ebusiness and technology.
