The social networking business

Everybody wants to be the next MySpace and Facebook – except there are different slants to the social networking idea. MTV is about to launch a Web site and TV channel called Flux (where do they come up with these names?) that allow users to upload their own clips, send onscreen messages using cell phones and choose which music videos they want to see. This seems to be a mix of two popular areas – the social network sites where you can set up your own home page and the interactive stuff that lets you vote for your favorite performer on a cell phone or Web site.

You remember that last year Rupert Murdoch’s company, News Corp., paid almost $600 million for MySpace, which is based in Santa Monica, and suddenly everyone was looking to follow the model. L.A. has several start-ups that are variations on this Internet community theme. And there’s a ton of venture capital money going into these businesses, most of which involve the use of video. But the MySpace model ain’t so great – News Corp. is having a tough time making money on MySpace because advertising opportunities are limited. These other sites run into the same problem. One of the big issues for advertisers is the lack of control. When they buy time on ABC during “Desperate Housewives,” they know what to expect. But the videos on these sites can be a little raunchy – well, a lot raunchy. And there are just too many – a bunch are going to fall by the waist side, a mini version of the tech crash.