Plaxo

Infobox Company
company_name = Plaxo
company_
company_slogan = we are the proud and free
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company_type = Owned by Comcast
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foundation = July, 2006
founder =
location = Mountain View, California
origins =
key_people = Ben Golub, President & CEO
area_served =
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homepage = [http://www.plaxo.com Plaxo]
footnotes =

Plaxo is an online address book and social networking service founded by Napster co-founder Sean Parker, Minh Nguyen and two Stanford engineering students, Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring. Plaxo, based in Mountain View, California, is currently privately held and supported by venture capital including funds from Sequoia Capital. [cite web|url=http://www.sequoiacap.com/company/plaxo/|title=Sequoia Capital funds Plaxo] On May 14, 2008, Plaxo reported it had signed an agreement to be acquired by Comcast. [cite web|url=http://www.plaxo.com/about/comcast?src=plxhelp_1571|title=Plaxo's announcement of the agreement to be acquired by Comcast|date=May 14, 2008|author=Plaxo|work=Press Release] Plaxo did not disclose the terms of the deal. [cite web|url=http://help.plaxo.com/al/12/1/article.asp?aid=1571&bt=4n|title=Q&A about Comcast's acquisition of Plaxo|author=Plaxo|work=Q&A] In May 2008, the website reported 20 million users. [cite web|url=http://blog.plaxo.com/archives/2008/05/the_plaxo_direc.html|title=The Plaxo Directory Is Now Live|date=May 22, 2008|author=Plaxo|work=Press Release]

Plaxo provides automatic updating of contact information. Users and their contacts store their information on Plaxo's servers. When this information is edited by the user, the changes appear in the address books of all those who listed the account changer in their own books. Once contacts are stored in the central location, it is possible to list connections between contacts and access the address book from anywhere.

A Plaxo plug-in supports major address books including Outlook/Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Mac OS X's Address Book, though other ones can be supported through an application programming interface. Additionally, Plaxo can also be maintained through an online version.

Partnerships

AOL

On July 7, 2005, Plaxo announced it had struck a deal with America Online to integrate its contact management service with its AOL and AOL Instant Messenger products. [cite web|url=http://www.plaxo.com/about/releases/release-20050706|title=America Online Inc. and Plaxo Inc. form agreement to help AOL members and AIM users better manage contact information|date=July 6, 2005|author=Plaxo|work=Press Release]

Comcast

On May 7, 2007, Comcast announced [cite web|url=http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=661|title=Comcast Announces Plans to Launch Interactive SmartZone(TM) Communications Center|date=May 7, 2007|author=Comcast|work=Press Release] that it had partnered with Plaxo in the launch of its universal communications service, SmartZone.

Criticism

Plaxo received criticism from technology journalist David Coursey, who was upset about receiving (similar to spam type email) a number of requests from Plaxo users to update their contact information, and who wondered how the company was planning to make money from a free service that collects personal contact and network information. [cite web|url=http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/AnchorDesk/4520-7297_16-5111563.html|author=David Coursey|title=Why my address book is spamming you|work=ZDNet AnchorDesk|date=December 8, 2003] However after "changes at Plaxo and discussions with the company's remaining co-founders", Coursey reversed his stance [cite web|url=http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1644423,00.asp|title=Plaxo Reconsidered|work=eWeek|author=David Coursey|date=September 9, 2004] . Plaxo also responded to these issues in a section of their website [cite web|url=http://www.plaxo.com/privacy|title=Your Privacy and Security at Plaxo|author=Stacy Martin|work=Plaxo] .

Plaxo 3.0

On June 24, 2007 Plaxo announced the public beta of a major new version of its service, called Plaxo 3.0. The service emphasizes "automated, multi-way sync." [cite web|url=http://blog.plaxo.com/archives/2007/06/introducing_an.html|title=Introducing an All-New Plaxo|date=June 24, 2007|author=Plaxo|work=Blog] [cite web|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN2425982920070625|title=Plaxo turns address books into Web social networks|date=June 25, 2007|author=Eric Auchard|work=Reuters]

Plaxo Pulse

On August 4, 2007 Plaxo announced the public beta of a social networking service called Plaxo Pulse. [cite web|url=http://blog.plaxo.com/archives/2007/08/oh_geez_not_ano_1.html|title=Oh geez, not ANOTHER social network…|date=August 5, 2007|author=Plaxo|work=Blog] The service enables sharing of content from multiple different sources across the social web, including blogs, photos, social networking services, rating services, and others. Users can selectively share and view content according to either pre-determined categories (e.g. friends, family, business network) or customized groups. Plaxo Pulse was the first site to feature a working version of an OpenSocial container. [cite web|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/02/plaxo-implements-opensocial/|title=Plaxo Implements OpenSocial, Ning Goes Live Friday Night|date=November 2, 2007|author=TechCrunch|work=Blog]

References

External links

* [http://www.plaxo.com Plaxo]
* [http://blog.plaxo.com/ Plaxo corporate blog]