• Business Week, Monday, April 9, 2007 11:15 AM

Just about every media company in the world is trying to figure out a way into the world of social networks, blogs and online video. Several, like Google, News Corp. and NBC Universal, have bought their way into Web 2.0, while others, like Viacom, are choosing to build it.

Critics might say that due to their size; big media companies are at a disadvantage when it comes to the fast-paced world of new media. Several former media moguls have abandoned the traditional world in favor of growing their own Web startups.

Michael Eisner, the former CEO of the Walt Disney Company, has produced a new online series called "Prom Queen," featuring all the stuff you'd expect from reality television: beautiful girls and guys, sexual innuendo and a secret: one of the suitors is out to kill the prom queen. BW says acting is terrible, but the show is mildly addicting. Eisner recently struck a distribution deal with MySpace for the series.

Steven Bochco, the producer of "L.A. Law" and "Hill Street Blues," has signed on to create several videos for user-generated site Metacafe.com. Herb Scannell, former president of Viacom's (VIA) Nickelodeon Networks, founded Next New Networks, a month-old startup that intends to create 101 specialized social networks over the next five years.

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