Do More With Reuters
Partner Services

MySpace, Skype to offer calls on social network

Wed Oct 17, 2007 6:55am IST
 
Email | Print | | Single Page
[-] Text [+]

By Michele Gershberg

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Top social network site MySpace and Web-calling leader Skype will offer MySpace members free Internet phone services in a bid to expand their user bases while fending off rivals, company officials said on Tuesday.

MySpace and Skype will begin allowing MySpace members to make calls starting next month using Skype's Web-based voice-calling service. The calls will be placed through MySpace's existing instant messaging technology.

Members of Skype, a unit of eBay Inc, will be able to link their own MySpace profiles to their existing calling service. The two sides have also hooked up their technology to make it easier for members of only one network join the other.

"We're connecting the two networks to create the world's largest voice-connected online network," Don Albert, Skype's North American general manager, said in an interview. The companies planned to announce the deal officially on Wednesday.

Both Skype and News Corp's MySpace work off the premise that their value to individual users increases as they attract more members and aim to keep people on their networks for as much time as possible.

MySpace faces growing competition from privately held social network Facebook, which quickly rose to a strong second place since it became an open network earlier this year.

It sees extending its communication capabilities as a key competitive strategy.

"A huge chunk of our user base is already using AOL messenger, Yahoo or MSN," said Kyle Brinkman, vice president of product development at MySpace. "We think we do it better when it's integrated (into the MySpace site)."  Continued...

Reuters correspondent Sourav Mishra recounts the unforgettable night of Nov. 26 at Mumbai's Leopold Cafe
Back from the Dead
REUTERS WITNESS - 26/11

Reuters correspondent Sourav Mishra recounts the night of Nov. 26 at Leopold Cafe.  Full Article | Full Coverage 

editor's choice

Cross-post
Cross-post

LinkedIn and Twitter have linked up.  Full Article 

Big Opportunity
Big Opportunity

Nokia sees enormous potential in mobile money.  Full Article 

 
High Stakes
High Stakes

HP-3Com deal raises stakes in tech M&A battle.  Full Article 

Spending Freeze
Spending Freeze

Japan's freeze on supercomputers marks end of era.  Full Article 

 

REUTERS WEEKEND

9: Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, Royal Ontario Museum; Toronto. What I.M. Pei’s pyramid is to the Louvre, so is the relatively new Michael Lee-Chin Crystal to the Royal Ontario Museum. While many praise the glass structure, just as many are troubled by the incongruity to the original, more traditional museum that still sits directly beside it.  REUTERS/Yan Sun/Handout
Travel Picks

World's top 10 ugliest buildings.  Full Article | Slideshow 

Revellers dance at an office Christmas party in London December 13, 2007.  REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly
Travel Picks

Top 10 cities to party the night away.  Full Article 

 
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey waves to people at the Main Street in Copenhagen in this September 30, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Scanpix/Jeppe Michael Jensen/Files
End of Oprah?

Winfrey says ending TV show "feels right."  Full Article | Slideshow 

Dresses worn by actress Audrey Hepburn are displayed at a press preview of the Tanja Star-Busman collection of Hepburn memorabilia at Sotheby's in New York November 20, 2009.  REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Hepburn Auction

Audrey Hepburn's dresses will be sold at auction.  Full Article 

 
Photo
One Year Later

A look back at the events of 26/11 ahead of the first anniversary of the militant attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.  Slideshow | Full Coverage 

Photo
Ageing Santa gets $100,000 facelift for Christmas Friday, 20 Nov 2009 

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A Santa in New Zealand with a droopy eye has received a NZ$100,000 ($74,000) face-lift in the run-up to Christmas so that his aging face does not scare children.  Full Article