Exerpt from J.P. Morgan Chase Bank's TID - Wednesday, November 26, 2003:

* Publishers seek cash in social networks

Publishers Knight Ridder and the Washington Post expect social
networking to be the future of online classifieds, CNET News
reported yesterday. The publishers along with Mayfield, a venture
capitalist, invested $6.3 million in Tribe.net. The online
community's goal is to join likeminded people for socializing,
dating, networking, or for building a local marketplace. The Post's
goal is to eventually help drive revenue from classified listings.
The Post makes about a third of its online revenue from classifieds.

Knight Ridder Digital, the online arm of the second-largest U.S.
newspaper publisher plans to incorporate Tribe.net into its network
of sites, which includes local guides Real Cities. "By combining
Tribe's social networking tools and listings with our strong,
branded local market presence, it's a win for both of us," said
Hilary Schneider, CEO of Knight Ridder Digital.

Editor's comment: One Web site that grew out of a community of
friends is the Zagat guides. Tim and Nina Zagat developed their
restaurant evaluation service from a list of New York restaurants
that their friends liked. The reward for reviewing a restaurant is a
free printed guide. The Zagats have branched into other cities and
other products and migrated their product to a paid Web site, but
the reviews still come from friends and friends of friends.

These newspapers see the Internet's threat to their classified
businesses and are grabbing at straws to find a way to transform
their business models. But it might make more sense for the
newspapers to start their own communities. Communities form around
shared values or objectives -- such as finding a good restaurant --
not simply around knowing someone. "Find your world in our world"
was a New York Times slogan that describes a link that may be
durable enough to serve as the basis for a community.