Tech Round Up: MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, and More

About six companies, including private equity firms, are expected to bid for MySpace this week. According to The Wall Street Journal (both the Journal and MySpace are owned by News Corp.), a Web company based in China, online music company Vevo (Vevo says this isn't true), and private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners are among those considering the purchase. The fate of MySpace is unclear, but there's talk of integrating it with existing websites. Friendster is deleting all of its content next month says Gawker. Wouldn't be fun to see your old online profile one last time (if you can remember your password from 15 years ago)? Not gone: the typewriter. Facebook has launched the "Send" button, which replaces the "email a friend" function and is meant to improve the network's Groups capabilities. The "Send" button also counts towards a page's "Like" number. More than 50 sites, including Orbitz and People.com, are using it, Mashable says. Facebook is also launching its Deals feature in five cities: San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, and San Diego. "Deals" will compete with Groupon, and is part of the "Places" feature. Epsilon, a unit of Alliance Data Systems, has acquired Aspen Marketing Services for "at least" $345 million, The New York Times reports. Aspen focuses on direct marketing, digital marketing, and analytics; Epsilon has specialties in SEO, Web design, and loyalty marketing. "The acquisition underlined the growing role of marketing services in selling consumer products," The Times writes. The deal is expected to close in Q2. Off the Quad, which targets college students with hyperlocal content, has re-launched as a daily email with info and deals. It has also launched Trendsettr, a kind of Klout for the college set that measures a student's campus influence. Both Off the Quad and Trendsettr have Facebook pages to interact with its audience.

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Tech Round Up: MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, and More

Tonya Garcia

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Tonya Garcia