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Crashing Classmates.com Stresses "Nostalgia"

As Facebook continues on its path to world domination, smaller social networks are struggling to find their niches. United Online, for one, is trying to reposition its Classmates.com social network as a resource for "nostalgic content," paidContent reports. "While users will still be able to upload their own content and edit profiles, they will soon also be able to access a 'vast' amount of 'nostalgic content,' including vintage videos, movies, TV shows, commercials, music, magazines and newspapers," according to the blog, citing comments by United Online CEO Mark Goldston.

According to Goldston, the company has already scanned 20,000 high school yearbooks and uploaded them to the site, and he expects Classmates to put 70,000 online by the end of the year. According to paidContent, Goldston said the changes would let the social network "enhance the value proposition" for both its paid and free members and also allow it to monetize the site in ways beyond advertising and paid subscriptions. For the quarter, ad revenue at Classmates Media dropped to $15.6 million from $19.4 million year-over-year, while services revenue dropped to $33.2 million from $38.7 million.

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