While news junkies have been observing with varying degrees of jealousy (or contempt) Rupert Murdoch's plan to link his company's popular MySpace.com Web site with one of his British papers, a
small paper in Spokane, Wash. has already done just that. The Spokane-Review has created a MySpace profile for its weekly entertainment supplement, called '7.' There was no
cost involved, and already the paper is enjoying the benefits of being linked to the hugely popular social-networking site that appeals mainly to teenagers. "Some of us who've been on MySpace for
a couple of years had been kicking the idea around and the opportunity presented itself when the print staff decided to do a story about MySpace," says the paper's online publisher, Ken Sands.
"One of the staffers decided to create the persona. It was kind of a no-brainer--local bands, high school and college kids, young adults-- the perfect social network. Just getting out there and
having contacts --237 friends so far--is good marketing. There's a lot of potential for growth, for spending a lot more time interacting with people, doing MySpace events and promotions."
Murdoch's News Corporation has more ambitious plans, of course, but what the Spokane-Review has done suggests that the association between a newspaper and a successful social-networking site
has genuine goodwill (and possibly revenue-generating) possibilities.
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