MySpace To Acquire Flektor
MySpace will acquire Flektor, a just-launched service that allows users to create widgets from photos, video and text, according to two sources with knowledge of the deal. This comes right after the news of MySpace's pending acquisition of Photobucket last week for $250-$300 million.
Context & Ripple Effects
Fox Interactive Media's buying spree continues: days after confirming a $250-$300 million deal for [[e:Photobucket|photo host Photobucket]], MySpace is reported — per TechCrunch sources, not an official announcement — to be acquiring [[e:Flektor|Flektor]], a widget creation service that launched only recently. GigaOM's framing of 'Fox Interactive keeps on buying' captures how the acquisitions read as one program rather than isolated deals.
The Flektor rumor lands against a tension in MySpace's own record: since at least March 2007 the network has been tightening limits on third-party embeddable tools that carry advertising or transactions, even as it builds out first-party features like MySpace News. Buying a widget maker in-house is the logical counterpart — own the embed layer you used to police.
First-order effects
- If confirmed, Flektor's founders join Fox Interactive weeks after launch, and MySpace gains native photo/video/text widget tooling for profile pages without licensing or tolerating third-party embeds.
Second-order effects
- Independent widget developers face a shrinking window on MySpace: the platform restricts outside tools that monetize while acquiring its own, pushing builders toward rival networks like Facebook's just-opened platform.
Third-order effects
- Social networks are consolidating the widget/embed economy in-house, shifting value from open distribution across profiles to owned features — a pattern that determines which platforms stay attractive to third-party developers.
The trend: Major social networks are responding to the widget boom by acquiring the best embed makers and constraining everyone else's, converting an open ecosystem into owned real estate.