MySpace’s Mobile VP on mobilizing social networks

On MySpace’s 2009 outlook: MySpace Mobile is certainly moving the dial so far as allowing friends to experience social networking and relay social networking from where and when it actually happens. Having a product and experience that end users really like and go to continuously is something we pride ourselves on and something we’ll be working on continually throughout 2009.

On the role of advertising in monetizing mobile: MySpace has always been profitable since day one. I’m cast with figuring out the value chain of mobile and how we create a revenue stream out of it. Certainly that is very important to us. It’s important we use the mobile property to create a value chain for ad partners as well. We’ve currently monetized MySpace Mobile and had big partners such as Ford, Time Warner, Saturn and Digiorno on our mobile properties and will continue to do so in the future, whether through our standard ad interface running on m.myspace.com or the expansion into custom communities and ad profiles on our mobile Web. We’re also exploring kicking the tires on how to generate revenue out of premium downloadable experiences from Android, RIM and iPhone.

On going international: We really look to localize our products and have created experiences on the mobile Web and iPhone; we’ve translated those experiences into 10 different languages. MySpace China has a mobile Website and mobile property that is unique to the Chinese market and same with Japan. We create end-user experiences tailored to the local culture. As we bring richer experiences to the mobile properties, we’ll look to continue to internationalize and distribute our applications in a local cultural context.