Next step - MySpace buys or builds a search engine

If MySpace is about to disintermediate all the sites that are powered by MySpace traffic, why did it just sign a nearly four-year deal (BBC) with Google? If "there is no reason why we can't replicate that functionality and retain that traffic - and its attendant revenue" holds good for web2.0...why not for search too?

The obvious answer is that it isn't the technology that Google brings to the table with this deal but the AdWords network. So for a consistent strategy FIM has given itself four years to replicate that network via buy or build.

But of course actually replicating that network isn't the trick here - the heterogeneity of the AdWords network brings problems as well as opportunities as many of the AdWords advertisers decline to run their brands against the core MySpace user-generated content. Enter the recent ESPN/Quigo deal (MarketingVox) - a tailored network of search advertisers who know exactly what they're getting from a site with which they've consciously chosen to associate their brands. A $900 million "guarantee" (TechCrunch) is all very well, but MySpace has rather tipped its hand by admitting that its long-term plan is to take everything it can back in-house.