• Los Angeles Times (free registration required), Tuesday, May 23, 2006 10:45 AM

Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the movie moguls formerly in charge of Miramax, have taken a stake in a social networking Web site called ASmallWorld, according to the Los Angeles Times. The exclusive site is an invitation-only social network; founded in 2004, the company describes itself as "an exclusive global online community" comprised of 130,000 members in more than 100 countries. The Miramax founders, along with a group of investors including Bob Pittman, the former chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner Inc., are said to have made a "significant" though undisclosed investment in the start-up. Invitation-only social networks are interesting because they appeal to the "I want be somebody" side of people that's become important to so many in this country; if you can make a social network seem exclusive enough, the demand for a limited number of positions will inevitably rise. The trick, of course, (and this lesson can be learned from the NYC nightclub biz) is staying popular and staying exclusive, because every "it" nightspot in this city inevitably turns out to be a flash-in-the-pan six months later.  

Read the whole story at Los Angeles Times (free registration required) »