Microsoft Acquires Mobile Focused Social Networking Site WebFives
Duncan Riley
30 comments »
Microsoft has acquired Seattle based social networking site WebFives.
WebFives was initially founded in 2004 by former Microsoft engineer Mike Toutonghi as Vizrea and offers social networking with a focus of mobile media, including video, music and photos. Users are provided with standard social networking profile pages complete with blogging, and have the option of accessing their sites via computer or via a WAP specific page.
According to The Seattle Times, Toutonghi told WebFives users that the service will stop at the end of the year because of the Microsoft acquisition, making the acquisition a technology buy as opposed to a community buy. Toutonghi went on to encourage users to sign up to MSN Spaces and/or Windows Live for their social networking experience.
Price of the acquisition was not disclosed.
Could Microsoft tie this app into the Zune? I see a strategy emerging.
Looks like Microsoft is very enthusiastic about the whole social networking scenario. First joining hands with facebook and now acquiring this mobile based social networking Webfives. Good going must say .
This is not enough im sure poeple would want to see some integration of this into future Windows Mobile devices and we would welcome the implementation.
Parul
http://www.bhopu.com
gobble gobble, another bite’s the dust.
According to Compete, the site has less visitors than uncle Bob’s personal web diary. So it is no surprise that this is a technology acquisition.
18 to go!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
I could not access techcrunch why ?
The social networking scenario is getting hot really.. everybody seems to be trying to cash on it.. first the google open social platform and now the acquiring of this social network site by MS..
Microsoft jumped into social networking sites
If web fives will stop their services the user can migrate to other social networking sites, isn’t that?
If Microsoft wanted a really great and specialist mobile social network, they should have acquired Loop Mobile’s “MOKO” instead. http://www.moko.mobi has everything this does and a whole lot more. Its also fully global and integrated with the web. i think you will see and hear a lot more from MOKO very soon!
Too bad no automatic migration facility and transferring of blog contents to acquire customers. Shows netizens of US get the same type of treatment like down here in India.
Also looks like content of Web 2.0 is being taken too lightly. Their could be masterpieces out there.
http://tekno-world.blogspot.com
to #10, yeah, but webfives is written in asp.net
They bought out a website that an employee worked on???
They do this all the time. Expedia, ect….
This is not news. Not even worthy of a blog post. It’s like those people Microsoft ordered and paid to cross their arms in an X at the launch of the xbox 360 at E3 a couple years ago.
Contrived. Next. Let’s get some real news.
Oh, hey, that’s reassuring.
“Use my service until buys it and you’re left in the cold. Thanks for helping us get sold. :)”
Hm, that was supposed to be witty:
“Use my service until (INSERT TECHNOLOGY COMPANY) buys it and you’re left in the cold. Thanks for helping us get sold. :)”
Guess TechCrunch eats HTML.
I don’t know about HTML; I’m increasingly of the opinion that TechCrunch eats any comments that are remotely intelligent or interesting, leaving us with the random ramblings of kids, the barely-comprehensible broken English of various Indians (usually stating the complete obvious, cf. “Microsoft jumped into social networking sites” or irrelevant, cf. “I cannot access Techcrunch down why?”) and the incessant inane drivel that comes from Fake Steve Bore-mer. When it’s not either of those categories, it’s people posting purely to spam their rubbish blog or plug their second-rate web 2.0 site.
Come on Mike; I think the time has come for comments to be closed or restricted on here…
Fake Steve Ballmer sucks. Not funny, not even original.
It’s ok buying up Companies, but its what you do with them that ultimately counts.
Is WebFives going to be integrated with other Microsoft services, or is it just going to be left on the shelf as a future project in limbo.
Didn’t Microsoft invest in another social networking start-up called Wallop a few years ago.
Has anyone ever used it?
#16
“the barely-comprehensible broken English of various Indians ”
Mike, please filter out xenophobic, racist assholes like this one as well.
The truth is sometimes painful, asshole Shanky.
I’m not really that bothered about the quality of English–it’s better than my Hindi–but what gets on my nerves is the utter banality of a lot of the posts. People would be better off spending their time doing something else than either a) repeating what’s already been said in the TC post or b) coming out with a dull non-opinion like “The social networking scenario is getting hot really”.
Nat,
That Moko is really starting to move. Very interesting. Microsoft is not in the fore-front anymore anyway. I did a little research and found that soon Moko-Music will launch. Moko will be a buyout bid in my opinion in the very near future. Based on the mere fact that it is easier to buy a successful mobile community than it is to build one from the bottom up. Too easy. It is only money that is needed for the buyout and not top talent to build a new business idea. Bill Badman. (A blurb below relating to Moko)
MOKO: Launched in 2005 in H3G Australia as Kink Kommunity, this
service was and still is a mobile-only social community (Soon to be internet based also). MOKO (for MObile KOmmunity) has since reached H3G UK and is now launching in the US market as well. MOKO users start a “chat room” by uploading a
picture or video via MMS to a short code. The chat rooms can be browsed
on mobile devices at http://www.moko.mobi. In order to be part of the
community MOKO members pay a monthly fee of GBP 1.5 in H3G UK or
3 US$ if in H3G AU. There are 50’000 paying MOKO users in H3G UK alone.
Strange that they will stop their services, I guess all those users (i’m not one off them) are going to be really pissed off. Why not migrate there accounts?
@yawn!
I have been noticing that some of my comments are getting moderated / blocked / not posted on here, and it’s frustrating. As time goes by, I am finding myself on Valleywag a lot more, at least the posts there are witty.
Its interesting to know about the all new development that are taking place in specific to “mobile social networking”. Could be Sotto- XO deal, T-Mobile issue, Verzon network issue & now the Mirosoft deal.However, I recently came across this new method of networking on mobile without GPRS, EDGE or internet on similar kind of social networking sites. http://www.modazzle.com?channe.....p=mobnetTC
Is this like a new area of competition that such companies are currently targeting ?????
to #12 - btw - MOKO is also written is asp.net
#25 Have you ever used the service? It is as cumbersome as telling a monkey he smells, oh and he gets it…
And Now, we have Moko Music brought to you by Loop Mobile. Hmmm…Mokies can directly interact with their favorite artists. Taking control away from the record studios and giving back the power to the customer to pick and choose hits….Hmmm…. Bill Badman
Talking about social networking site… By means of our site will be able to know latest news about the military forces, its history, opportunity and employment cells to recruit new entrants into the military, SERVICE OF THE ARMY TO THE COMMUNITY, publications in the form of magazines and newsletters, references and libraries for soldiers and general public, etc.