Thompson on Hollywood

Media Watch: Justin Timberlake Tackles Myspace, Kindle's Lending Library, News Corp. Profit Dip

Life imitates art: musician/actor Justin Timberlake, who played a media mogul in Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network, is set to revive the hulking mess of MySpace. He purchased an ownership share in the social media site in June of 2011 and just recently acquired an office and a staff of six to help him with the revamp. Timberlake wants to turn the website into a hub for musicians, entertainers, and fans to explore new content and connect over their favorite music.

By Maggie Lange
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November 3, 2011 4:37 AM
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Social Media Watch: Facebook Employees Sign Up for Google+, Most Active Users at Twitter or Facebook

While Google+ hopes to replace Facebook as a social media site that allows you to compartmentalize your image, high-ups at Facebook have been signing up in droves for Google's new platform. See the complete list of Facebook employees using Google Plus at All Facebook, including founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, vice president Christopher Cox and vice president of human resources, Lori Goler. So far, Google+ has accumulated 10 million users in just two weeks, good progress but nowhere close to Facebook's 750 million. Perhaps Facebook's principals are conducting some competitive research at Google+ or maybe this is a friendly gesture to say that all social media can coexist together?

By Maggie Lange
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July 20, 2011 8:00 AM
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Media Watch: Selling MySpace for a Song, Tina Brown Defends Photoshopping Princess Diana

For $35 million, mostly in stock, Specific Media acquired Myspace, for a "garage sale price," wrote The Wrap. Specific Media, an advertising network, used Justin Timberlake as their hook, said their CEO in an interview. The pop star, actor and modern fedora-wearer agreed to play a “major role” in fostering the creative direction for the company, which he prepped for playing a savvy internet mogul in The Social Network. Specific's new strategy for MySpace will be to organize users around their interests, like music, rather than their social life.

By Anne Thompson and Maggie Lange
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June 30, 2011 5:03 AM
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Andreessen Talks Tech Turkey on Charlie Rose

I saved this Marc Andreessen Charlie Rose interview on TiVo because Andreessen is brilliant and loves to share his insight. Months later, as the iPad is coming out and the internet continues to dominate our lives, this Silicon Valley maverick reveals how much he knows about how start-ups and the Internet work from in front. He just gets it. He co-founded and sold Netscape to AOL for $1 billion, and more recently, created Ning and a start-up fund (Andreessen/Horowitz). As an investor and/or board member, his fingers are in many pies, from Twitter to Facebook.

By Anne Thompson
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April 4, 2010 6:23 AM
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Sundance Watch: Relativity/Rogue Grabs Catfish

While Paramount did screen Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman's Catfish for a recruited preview on Tuesday night, they did not seal a deal Wednesday. Instead, scooping up U.S., Canada and UK distribution rights to the movie was Relativity's Rogue label (the old Focus Features genre label that they bought from Universal), which plans to release the controversial social media doc through Universal. Director Brett Ratner enthusiastically brought the film to Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh and plans to both exec produce and promote it.

By Anne Thompson
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February 4, 2010 6:11 AM
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The Flixster Effect: 2 Billion Movie Ratings

Call it the Flixster Effect.

By Anne Thompson
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October 12, 2009 7:16 AM
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Sundance: Digital Moguls Hawk MySpace and IMDb

While the Sundance media reports on the beleaguered independent theatrical market, which may never return to its former robust self--even with diminished production over the next few years--various Internet moguls are in Sundance networking and hawking their movie-centric wares.