Friday, May 16, 2008

Plaxo Questions After Comcast Buy?

Some 349 users have voted on ReadWriteWeb about whether they will keep using Plaxo, now that Comcast has acquired the company. About 32 percent seem to think this is a bad idea, and say they will delete their accounts "right now."

Some 21 percent say they don't see an issue, and will keep using Plaxo. Another 21 percent indicate they will wait and see. About a quarter don't use Plaxo, and have no plans to do so.

Apparently there is some feeling that the service will not be the same as Comcast starts to harness Plaxo's address book and content recommendation services for internal use. That's a possibility, to be sure.

Comcast has definite ideas about social elements and recommendation engines as primary tools to allow people to find new things to watch, and Comcast is heavily invested in getting its customers to watch on-demand content.

On the other hand, Comcast has a long history of investing in media properties that succeed only by appealing to buyers outside the Comcast orbit. To the extent that the independent Plaxo service has value, Comcast will not want to destroy that value.

The bigger question might be whether, given those intentions, Comcast can succeed in harnessing Plaxo's address book and social mechanisms without at the same time harming Plaxo's value for independent users.

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