Time Inc., the world's largest magazine publisher wasn't kidding about making a big noise on the Web -- even if it had to axe nearly 300 jobs to do it. In fact, Time Inc. has gone almost as crazy for social networks as the center of the Universe for venture capitalists, Palo Alto's, Sand Hill Road has. Sports Illustrated's social component, FanNation.com, which Time Inc. acquired last February for a reported $20 million, now boasts 4 million users. So Time has revealed the conglomerate's plans to launch more social networks, as companions to its magazines, by early next year. The idea is to share FanNation's code with the rest of Time Inc.'s properties, which would certainly make their $20 million investment work a little harder. No specific sites were named, but Squires said the new networks would start with Time's other weekly titles: Time, People, and Entertainment Weekly. America's biggest selling magazine, People.com is a no-brainer for the first venture -- the URL being better suited for a social network than the news currently filling their pages of who's in rehab this week, who's adopting African babies, and who's having their bum reduced a few inches. Of course, at this point, People is coming more than a little late to the party. But as Time Inc., has some of the most read titles in America, they might just catch up.
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You can't get much more social than that!
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