Web 3.0 & MSN (Part 3)

Web 3.0 Framework discussion

Below is a quick overview of the Web 3.0 framework for the MSN sites. We have not gone into the details of all the properties, but you can review the Web 3.0 section of this site for detailed discussions on some of the vertical categories.

Context
MSN Astrology provides horoscopes and seasonal forecasts on love, money, and career, as well as tarot readings and live psychic chats. If you are looking to research vehicles of different make and model, find local dealers or need help with financing or insurance or maintenance then MSN Auto is the place for you.

New to a place or want to take your date for a dinner or a theater outing, don’t despair, MSN City Guides is where you should be looking. Planning to buy a watch for your wife this christmas and can’t decide on which one? Try MSN Shopping.

Content
MSN has tied up with the leading players in each of the verticals to provide strong content and tools.

MSN Money offers “Microsoft Money”, a personal finance application that allows users to manage household financial accounts and track a budget.

MSN Health & Fitness has informative content from well-known medical sources like Psychology Today, the Mayo Clinic, and others. MSN Health & Fitness offers 20 different health centers focused on high-user interest topics such as skin care, mental health, sexual health, Alzheimer’s, and more.

MSNBC.com out-delivers every major newspaper in daily reach. It offers best-of-breed content from NBC, Newsweek, BusinessWeek, The Washington Post, Forbes, and more.

Like Yahoo’s, MSN’s content strategy is also a “packaging” and “syndication” strategy, as opposed to an original content production strategy.

Community
MSN has improved its community features by including message boards, RSS Feeds, Newsletters, etc. MSN Video has good community features and allows users to view, upload and share their videos. Windows Live Spaces has good community features including blogs, photos, music files, and integration with Windows Live Mail and Messenger.

MSN Money has Message Boards (YourMoney, WomenInRed, PoliticsandtheMarkets, etc), Newsletters and RSS Feeds, which allow users to not only post questions but also interact and generate ideas and discuss a variety of personal finance issues and investments options.

Commerce
MSN earns commissions from the Resume services it provides in partnership with CareerBuilder. MSN Money offers Bill Payment services for a monthly fee of $2.95 for the basic plan and $5.95 for the premium plan. MSN in partnership with CNET provides various software and tools for downloads. MSN in partnership with Fox Sports retails sports gear. The MSN Group of sites earns commission on products and services sold through its various verticals (MSN Shopping, MSN Tech, MSN Games, MSN Travel, etc.)

Personalization
MSN offers personalization through My MSN. The user can choose the content that he or she wants to see in the home page. Users can receive local news, weather, sports, syndicated content, and more. Users can view selected information and their MSN Hotmail inbox in one page. Users can also add colors, themes, layout, and pages.

MSN Weather features personalized content that includes recent weather searches, local conditions, and intraday forecasts. MSN Money Investment Toolbox is a free service that allows users to track, screen, and manage one’s portfolio of investments (stocks, bonds, options).

Nothing yet to rock the world, though!

Vertical Search
MSN Auto, MSN Careers, MSN Travel, MSN Match, MSN Real Estate, etc. have standard vertical search engines that are powered by industry leaders like Auto Trader, CareerBuilder, Expedia, Match, etc.

MSN Yellow Pages has an intuitive design and allows users to search by category or region. MSN Money offers vertical search option through its popular MSN Money Investment Toolbox, which allows users to screen stocks based on more than 500 criteria.

Business Model
MSN earns revenues from advertising, subscriptions and products and services sold through its sites.

(To Be Continued)

[Part 1] [Part 2]

This segment is part 3 in the series : Web 3.0 & MSN
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