ABS-CBN buys 5% of Multiply.com
ABS-CBN purchased 2,524,488 shares of social networking site Multiply. This amounted to to $5,000,000.93 or 5% of the company. You can read the reports from the following sites:
- ABS-CBN acquires minority stake in Multiply (ABS-CBN News)
- ABS-CBN buys 5% stake in Multiply (Inquirer.net)
- Multiply Gets $100M Valuation As Southeast Asian Media Conglomerate Buys 5% Stake (TechCrunch)
Some people may remember a prior partnership between the two companies last year. It looks like the Kapamilya Network is taking things to the next level.
Multiply is a remarkably popular service for Filipinos as it provides an all in one package for blogging and uploading various multimedia. ABS-CBN is notable for having promoted many of its TV shows online through Multiply profiles more so than subsections of its official website.
Clearly, the media company knows where to go where the buzz is, and whether or not this deal’s pros are outweighed by the cons, it’s interesting to see how a company that built its name through traditional forms of media is slowly discovering what we now call social media.
WordPress App for LinkedIn adds your blog to your professional profile
If you’re networking professionally at LinkedIn, you’ll be pleased to know that you can now add your WordPress-powered blog to your profile with the WordPress app. Just look for it in the Application Directory, add your blog URL, and you’re all set. Your recent blog posts will now be displayed on your profile.
Users of both WordPress.com (hosted) and WordPress.org (self-hosted) can use this app, so don’t hesitate! Why use LinkedIn? It’s a great way to build your professional network online.
BuddyPress is a WordPress MU Social Network Platform
If you enjoy all the features of WordPress, particularly its multi-user version WordPress MU, but would like to take it a step further and produce one of the hottest places to be on the web right now, a social network, then BuddyPress might be the solution you’re looking for.
BuddyPress is still essentially blogging software but “removes the main focus of WordPress MU away from blogs, moving it more towards the actual member themselves.” Instead of having blogging as its main feature, it’s now one features in addition to more detailed profile pages, private messaging, friends, groups, status updates, photo albums, and something called The Wire, which is basically where friends can leave messages on one’s profile page ala MySpace comments.
Rolling out a custom social network seems like the next logical step after blogging. In the Philippines, there are a lot of bloggers but there are more of us who more easily understand the likes of Friendster and Multiply. Others believe blogging is the next social network. And that our online social lives can remain scattered across different websites like Twitter and Facebook, too. Will BuddyPress draw in the crowds? Could it equal the likes of KickApps and Ning? We’ll find out soon enough.
