Hulu Sprouts a Social Network

On the one-year anniversary of its launch, video-on-demand site Hulu has added social networking features to let friends share viewing histories while becoming more valuable to advertisers. (The more data the site gathers, the better its ads can target users.)

The Wall Street Journal concludes that Hulu's embrace of social networking somehow means it might not threaten the traditional television-watching model as much as it may have otherwise. "By underscoring that the site is about providing entertainment on the computer, and not replacing television" writes the WSJ, "the new social-networking features also could help ease concerns about Hulu's potential to undermine the business interests of TV networks and cable operators."

This is rather strange logic.

Extra features normally add to the allure of one service over another, rather than detracting from it. If Hulu has social networking features, it's hard to see how that will make viewers prefer their television without those features. It's more likely that television sets will eventually incorporate social networking, than that social networking will prevent internet television from cannibalizing broadcast.

One thing that's not up for debate is that Hulu's premium content -- much of which comes from its parent companies NBC Universal and News Corp. -- continues to draw more viewers. Nielsen's latest data puts Hulu on course to stream 33 percent more videos in February than in the previous month. By comparison, YouTube's mostly short-form video streams declined 11 percent in the same period.

The new "Hulu Friends" feature appeared on the site on Thursday. To use it, sign in, then click your Profile link and go to the Friends tab to add contacts from  Facebook, MySpace, Gmail, Hotmail and/or Yahoo Mail (you can also enter names and email addresses by hand). Once people are connected to your profile, you'll be able to monitor a feed of their viewing activities on the site and browse their profile pages.

by Eliot Van Buskirk

See Also:

• ZillionTV: Hollywood and ISPs Unite to Deliver Video over the Net
• For Many, MegaVideo Trumps Bit Torrent
• Free, Legal and Online: Why Hulu Is the New Way to Watch TV
• Hulu Content Vanishes From TV.com, Blocked on Boxee
• Hulu Videos Return to Boxee (Sort of)

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