MySpace RIP?

That headline should grab your attention. While it's obviously much too early to sound the death knell for MySpace -- and that day may never come -- it is no longer the social networking choice of those in the know. I am not a hipster (as my wife informs me on a regular basis, and I actually agree), but my friend Spyro Poulos is. Spyro is the advertising director for Tokion Magazine. It is a decidedly hip pub and Spyro is a decidedly hip guy, and he tells me that those in the know are moving on. I have felt for some time that the next big thing in social networking will be proprietary social networks, those delineated by niche or those inviting membership. These are the new places to be, and the places to find early adapters.

Politics Online

It will be interesting to see what happens later this month with the launch of The Politico, the primarily online political publication, financed by Allbritton Communications. These guys are cutting the papaer out of newspaper almost entirely, as reported by The Times.

As many newspapers across the country are cutting their staffs and trimming back on Washington coverage, The Politico is finding younger journalists and some veterans — including John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei from The Washington Post, Mike Allen from Time magazine and Roger Simon from Bloomberg News — who are willing to leave the once-secure confines of traditional print to join a start-up.

The content will be first rate. What remains to be seen is whether The Politico will be able to attract readers -- and profits -- in a niche where there is so much already available for free. I think a lot of it is going to depend how quickly the pub can establish a brand and demonstrate multi-platform chops, meaning incorporating video, perhaps social networks and other forms of media into the mix.

Pop Up Mania

It is a story that has been floating around for a while, but today the New York Times reported that Entrepreneur.com and several other publishing sites have been inflating their circ numbers (I'm shocked, shocked I tell you). The way it worked is that content (actual content, not ads) was popping up all over the place. The result was that the site's traffic more than tripled from about 2 million to 7.6 million according to the Times. That translates into some serious cash. Others busted in Pop Upgate include Concierge.com (the site belonging to Conde Nast Traveler), ForbesAutos.com and Heavy.com. Heavy.com says that the content was placed by third parties, without its knowledge.

NYT New Media Saga Continues

Speaking of the Times, John Cook of the Seattle Post Intelligencer reported that NYT.com is linking to Facebook, Digg and Newsvine. Material on the Times' blogs and NYT Select will not be available for sharing. Thus, one wonders if the NYT is in the midst of making another online misstep, inviting the type of controversy that accompanied the introduction of the paper's select service.