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AOL launches access to social networks from its new site

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AOL announced a brand new homepage that will let consumers access multiple social networking services directly from AOL.com, becoming the first major portal to offer direct access to information from major social networking sites. This follows the move last month to provide access to multiple e-mail services from the AOL.com site, and is part of AOL’s ongoing strategy to open its homepage, to outside services and content– offering consumers more customization options.

The new social networking feature allows consumers to post status updates to multiple social networks at once, and provides profile activity information, including new friend requests, status updates and mail notifications from services such as AIM, Bebo, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and other third-party sites.

AOL.com also launched new tools and features to further personalize the user experience, bringing together third-party content and services from across the Internet. The new features give consumers more control over how content and services are displayed, letting them customize the main navigation bar by adding their own Web links, receive continuously updated local news, access RSS feeds from across the Web directly from the main page of AOL.com as well as personalize their experience with new design themes.

Originally posted on October 30, 2008 @ 10:06 am

Weblogs Inc. now on its third year with AOL

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AOL is celebrating the third anniversary of its acquisition of Weblogs, Inc. this month. In 2005, Weblogs had a large portfolio of niche blogs targeted at business and professional users, in addition to a general readership. Since then, Weblogs has honed its portfolio to 29 blogs focused on major consumer passion points such as technology, autos, finance, video games and travel. Since 2005, Weblogs has seen worldwide unique visitors climb nearly 1,000% (122% annually, on average) and page views rise over 1,500% (154% annually, on average), according to August 2008 comScore Media Metrix.

In addition to Weblogs’ own growth, the acquisition was instrumental to AOL’s launch of successful sites such as TMZ, Asylum, FanHouse, BloggingStocks, and Spinner.

Over the next 12 months, AOL plans to launch of number of new blog brands in important consumer interest areas, as well as aggressively continue the expansion of its blogs internationally.

Originally posted on October 24, 2008 @ 11:26 am

AOL Television launches new online series “Outside The Box”

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AOL Television has announced the launch of Outside the Box, a new free on-demand online series in which cast members from popular network and cable television programs interview one another using fan submitted questions.

The new series will put the power directly into the hands of television fans, allowing them to create and submit questions that will be used during the interviews. The one-on-one format features two or more cast members interviewing one another about the show, their characters and their antics on and off the set. Each episode will last no more than ten minutes and also include comical outtakes and bonus clips.

“Outside the Box signifies our ongoing commitment in providing consumers with the highest possible production quality, while simultaneously providing fans with unparalleled access to top talent,” said Mike Rich, Senior Vice President. “This new series will provide advertisers a new venue for high impact custom solutions while reaching a large scale built-in audience who consume, and then share video on the web.”

Originally posted on October 1, 2008 @ 11:05 am

AOL launches magazine-style website Digital City

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AOL announced the launch of Digital City, a new, magazine-style site that enables readers to stay on top of the latest entertainment trends and stories from around the world. Digital City takes a new approach to geo-blogging by showcasing original content with a local slant, but global appeal.

In addition to daily posts on topics ranging from the arts to fall festivities, Digital City has weekly features focusing on news and trends in entertainment, concerts, nightlife and dining. The monthly blogazine “Drink World” is devoted to the global culture of drinking.

Digital City is part of the AOL Local Network, an online local network with a monthly reach of 60 million unique visitors. The site will be monetized through advertising packages that will be sold exclusively through Platform-A, AOL’s digital advertising business.

Originally posted on September 29, 2008 @ 10:40 am

AOL Latino launches coverage of Hispanic Heritage Month

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AOL Latino is launching its special coverage of Hispanic Heritage Month, the annual four-week national celebration from September 15 to October 15.

Featured on AOL Latino’s dedicated Hispanic Heritage Month hub, the coverage will promote Hispanic culture in a variety of ways, including “Vive en Español,” a campaign dedicated to promoting the importance of Spanish language as a cultural touchstone in bilingual households.

AOL expanded into Latin America by launching sites in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela and Mexico earlier this year and plans to expand into Brazil. In the U.S., AOL Latino is one of the top two bilingual portals for Hispanics with more than 2.2 million unique visitors.

Originally posted on September 12, 2008 @ 9:37 am