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| AOL Acquires Userplane AOL has acquired Userplane of Los Angeles, CA, a pioneer in community networking software that develops and markets easy-to-use, Web-based chat and instant messaging tools that can be quickly deployed and seamlessly integrated into a variety of Web services. The agreement with AOL was signed on July 28th and closed last week. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Userplane - originally founded in 2001 by Michael Jones, Nate Thelen and Javier Hall - has licensed its chat technology to more than 100, 000 Web sites and online communities, and has a presence in more than 25 countries. Key customers include MySpace.com, Honda, Date.com, Spark, IGN, Tagged, Red Bull, Marvel Comics, and others. Userplane's wide network of online communities includes social networking and dating websites, blogs, and niche communities. Userplane offers its Web-based chat and instant messaging services under three business models. There is a monthly licensing model in which customers pay fees based on usage, a free model in which Userplane represents the resulting advertising inventory, and a hybrid model through which licensed clients can also place Userplane's advertising inventory on their site and share in the proceeds. Userplane users spend an average of at least 20 minutes engaged in the Userplane experience per visit, which enables Userplane to provide rich advertising space - including streaming audio and video. Because the Userplane experience is fundamentally user-centric, advertisers can precisely target their audience based on user profiles and demographics. The trend-setting and early-adopting 18-35 demographic is best represented among Userplane's large and rapidly growing user base. Instant messaging is one of the three most popular Internet activities in the United States - after email and search - and is a key driver of user engagement. As the nationwide leader in instant messaging, AOL's growing IM community is a syndicated and open developer platform that supports social networking, delivers advanced voice, video and collaboration services, and provides consumers with easy access to popular content and programming. Userplane and its 12 employees will continue to be based in the Los Angeles, CA area. It will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Computing News :: home page |