8 posts and columns on People.com

News Byte

Facebook Rolling Out Commenting System for Big Media Sites

in Media on January 31, 2011 at 1:24 pm PT

Facebook’s courtship of big media continues: CNET’s Caroline McCarthy reports that the social network is rolling out a commenting system, akin to services like Disqus, that it wants to launch with the help of big publishers. That makes sense, because Facebook has been headed in that direction. Go to Time Warner’s People.com, and you’ll see that Facebook already manages that site’s comments, a move it made last year. Easy to see Facebook and publishers working together on something even more robust.

Site Builder Wetpaint Makes One for Itself Using the Demand Media Playbook

in Media on September 6, 2010 at 4:00 am PT

Do we really need another pop-culture site? Sure, says Wetpaint CEO Ben Elowitz. His pitch: We’ll build a better mousetrap–one that covers every flickering detail about the likes of “Glee” and “The Jersey Shore”–using “data and science.”

Time Warner Dumping Its Magazines? Not So Fast.

in Media on September 28, 2009 at 3:00 am PT

Heavyweight media investor Gordy Crawford–who happens to own a big chunk of Time Warner–says the conglomerate plans to dump its magazine business. But I get the sense that Jeff Bewkes and company plan on keeping at least some of the unit’s iconic titles.
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More Not-Bad News From Time Inc.: People.com Booming

in Media on December 10, 2008 at 12:39 pm PT

While it’s true that Time Warner’s magazine unit is embattled, there are bright spots in the portfolio. Take People.com: The gossip magazine has always been one of Time Inc.’s strongest performers. Now its companion site is, too. Who gets credit? Some of it goes to celebs like Ashlee Simpson, and their babies.

Actual Time Inc. Layoff News: Plans Unveiled, Slowly, Starting Next Week

in Media on November 5, 2008 at 1:26 pm PT

Time Inc. employees know that layoffs are coming, and this morning they were told that the layoffs will cost parent company Time Warner a bundle. Still unknown: who’s actually getting fired. That will change beginning next week, says Time Inc. spokeswoman Dawn Bridges. She says the company will unveil the “size, staffing and structure of each of the business units” beginning “early next week.”

Online Meltdown Update: AOL Ads Down Six Percent in Third Quarter

in Media on November 5, 2008 at 4:32 am PT

More fuel for the online advertising pessimists among you: Advertising revenues at AOL dropped six percent in the third quarter. Given that those results cover the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, which only included a couple weeks of flat-out economic collapse, there will be worse news in store for the last quarter of the year.

One Time Inc. Casualty: Digital Boss Ned Desmond

in Media on October 30, 2008 at 1:51 pm PT

Time Inc. still hasn’t figured out exactly how many people the magazine publisher will fire this fall — the 600 number reported earlier this week, we’re told, is a guesstimate. In the meantime there are plenty of high-level org chart changes, like the departure of Ned Desmond, a longtime Time Inc. vet who was most recent title was President of Time Inc. Interactive. Click through to read Time Inc. boss Ann Moore’s goodbye memo.

BermanBraun Will Make Both MSN Celeb Site and Also Yahoo "Lunacy Report"

in News on June 2, 2008 at 3:45 pm PT

Lloyd Braun–the former Hollywood super-programmer turned Yahoo entertainment czar turned Hollywood and online programmer–has signed a multimillion-dollar deal to make an original destination site for Microsoft’s MSN portal, aimed at aggregating celebrity, entertainment and pop culture news, according to several sources. At the same time, Braun also inked a deal with Yahoo to create a daily online report of “weird news.”
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