WALTHAM, Mass.-Oct. 4, 2005 - Lycos, Inc.(www.lycos.com), a media content destination for creators and consumers of quality content, today announced the beta launch of Planet, a never-before-seen interaction platform now available to the millions of Lycos users.
Located at http://planet.lycos.com, Planet is the first imported product from Lycos' parent company, Daum Communications of Korea, which has been adapted to fit the U.S. audience. The U.S. version of Planet is being launched on Lycos to the Angelfire audience of teens and young adults. Planet is the first product launch to support Lycos' new strategy as a destination platform for content creators and content consumers, driven by user-generated content.
"Lycos has the largest audience of teens and 'tweens on the web with our Angelfire site, so it made sense for us to first introduce Planet to our Angelfire members," said Brian Kalinowski, Chief Operating Officer for Lycos. "During the soft launch, the Angelfire members quickly embraced the product and provided valuable feedback on featured enhancements."
Unlike social networking sites and static homepages, Planet is much more about social interaction and personal expression, providing a shared interactive multimedia experience. Planet is the first interactive multimedia tool of its kind to bring together unlimited photos, blogs, slideshows, animation, special effects and more. With Planet, anyone can build their own personal robust mini site and mini homepage-or planet-without any HTML experience.
One of the unique features that separates Planet from social networking sites is the MyTV Player, allowing users to create special-effects digital photo content. MyTV lets users create animated slide shows with swipes, fades, rotates and spins, as well as animated captions and more. With MyTV's simple yet robust editing tools, even web novices can create engaging personalized content. Additionally, the player does not require a download, so visitors can enjoy these slideshows without the hassle of an install. Over the next two weeks, users will also be able to add music to their MyTV Player on Planet.
Also unique to Planet is the never-before-seen Buddy Map feature. When users create a planet, this innovative technology automatically arranges pictures representing a user's closest buddies, or those they interact with most, nearest to them on the page. This is unlike other networking sites, where buddies are often randomly listed, appear in alpha order, or are arranged by birth date.
Over the next two weeks, Lycos will continue to roll out additional Planet functionality including music, search and nickname features.
About Lycos' Inc.
Lycos, Inc. (www.lycos.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Daum Communications Corp., a leading Internet portal and e-commerce destination in Korea with a growing presence throughout the Asian markets. Lycos, Inc. creates and operates search, community and technology lifestyle sites including Lycos.com, Hotbot.com, Wired.com, Tripod.com, Angelfire.com and Quote.com. Other Lycos products and sites include Lycos Mail, Gamesville and GetRelevant. Lycos was acquired by Korean Daum Communications Corp. in October 2004 and has its U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. Daum Communications Corp. is traded on the KOSDAQ: 035720, www.daum.net.
Source:
Wired News
