[Infowarrior] - Reuters to start financial MySpace

[Richard Forno]

Reuters to start financial MySpace

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2024687,00.html
Richard Wray, communications editor
Friday March 2, 2007
The Guardian

Reuters is planning to launch its own version of MySpace this year - though
its community website will not be aimed at teenagers. Instead, fund
managers, traders and analysts are being targeted.

Reuters hopes to draw from the 70,000 subscribers of its messaging service
as a starting point for its foray into the fast-growing sector of community
websites.

"You will see us, later in the year, launch a version of MySpace for the
financial services community," said the chief executive, Tom Glocer. "It
won't have the latest hot videos and the 'why I am into Metallica and the
Arctic Monkeys' blogs. Instead we are going to give our financial services
users the ability to post their research or if they are traders, their
trading models."

The website will also be exclusive to Reuters subscribers. "People don't
want to have 100 friend requests from teenage girls in Florida if they are
trading the credit derivatives market, but they probably are interested in
being able to share research," said Mr Glocer.

Reuters has been quick to embrace online potential. Last year it posted one
of its journalists to Second Life, where he reports on events within the
virtual world. The company has sold advertising on the billboards outside
its virtual headquarters within Second Life. "I would still put this
strongly in the realm of experimentation but it's a nice controlled
experiment that has probably paid for itself 10 times over in marketing," he
said.

Reuters reported yesterday an 8% decline in annual trading profits - to
£308m - as it invested in its business. Revenues were £2.56bn, up 4.8% on an
underlying basis. Reuters said revenues would increase at least 6% this
year.