Comcast's vision...social networking from your set top box?

We love to network online, and we love cable TV, but what the hell does the nation's largest cable company want with a social networking tool? The acquisition of Plaxo by Comcast, could quite possibly revolutionize the effort to converge the digital living room with the PC.

This could also be a play to bolster the value proposition of Comcast.net, the company's destination for it's cable modem service subscribers. My question is how many subscribers ever take advantage of anything other than an email address from their ISPs? This was the whole premise for bringing down the walled garden of access model that once buoyed AOL to 24 million subscribers. People want the Internet in no uncertain terms. The don't want to be inhibited on their to it either. It is a broad universe of content and utilities that have already been set free by millions of publishers. Why then would a cable company want to acquire a networking tool like Plaxo? It has to be a bigger more grand plan than the obvious addition of uniting comcast.net subscribers.

"They had to be thinking of a master plan - dance with the record, dance with the record-

Thinking of a master plan...this ain't nothing but sweat inside my hands"; sorry I had a "Paid in Full" moment there. Comcast has a plan that will enable cable box subscribers to perform social networking functions across cable boxes, which while novel is already in play with TiVo, tv tuner enabled laptops and more. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe their motive is more innocent than that. Maybe they are more or even less visionary, but whichever the case, it is Comcast, a media behemoth in the making. Keep your eyes on this savvy and resource rich firm. What do you think of Comcast's acquisition of Plaxo? What does this acquisition mean to you, the Black Web early adopter?

Forbes Digital Media Industry M&A Forecast in '08

Web Company Sale!

By Wendy Tanaka - Forbes.com - 1/4/08 - What is Plaxo thinking?

The struggling electronic address book company has reportedly put itself up for sale and is seeking as much as $100 million--a hefty sum that conjures bad memories of inflated dot-com valuations.

Industry experts say $100 million is likely too steep a price for Plaxo, but the company couldn't have picked a better time to shop itself around as tech giants and big media are on the prowl for next-generation technologies that will help them stay competitive and survive. Plaxo declined to comment.

Former News Corp. (nyse: NWS) executive Ross Levinsohn predicts that there will be more Web 2.0 acquisitions this year than in 2007, but the deal sizes will be relatively small compared to those of the go-go '90s. "I see a lot of interest in sub-$50 million deals versus $200 and $300 million" deals, he says. "In the Internet space, you'll probably see more deals as traditional media gets more and more enthralled with digital media. They're all trying to figure it out."

Among the Web 2.0 deals last year were MySpace's acquisition of Web application developer Flektor for $20 million, and CBS (nyse: CBS ) snapping up video blog Wallstrip for $5 million. Levinsohn, now a partner at Velocity Interactive Group, expects some big deals, too. He speculated that Monster.com could be up for sale and IAC/InterActive, which split into five companies last year, could sell off a unit or two in 2008.

Besides Plaxo, many other Web 2.0 companies--including social networks Digg and Bebo, and application developer iLike--are also said to be looking around for suitors. Bebo didn't deny rumors that it wants to be acquired, but says it hired a bank to "potentially" raise another round of funding. Still, getting acquired is "in the back of the minds of every company," says Toby Murdock, co-founder of music application developer Qloud.

The truth is, all companies--especially those that have sucked in millions of dollars from venture capital firms--need to sell or go public to make money for their investors. In fact, many Web 2.0 start-ups were created for the express purpose of being acquired in a short period of time. "There's a generation of entrepreneurs that are focused on building and selling, and they love doing it," Levinsohn says.

Look for the usual tech and media acquisition machines--Google (nasdaq: GOOG), Yahoo! (nasdaq: YHOO), Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT ), News Corp., IAC and Disney--to keeping rolling up companies this year. Less obvious big names could join the fray as well. One venture capitalist suggests that Nokia (nyse: NOK) or Amazon.com (nasdaq: AMZN ), for instance, could be interested in Plaxo. "If you're Nokia, you want to integrate with Outlook and the Web," he says. "Amazon could use it as a gift reminder service."

Whether or not Plaxo gets acquired, one thing is certain: The Web 2.0 space will continue to be the center of attention in the fast-changing media landscape.