MySpace and Skype Hook Up - It's a One Night Stand

Today's hot social news is the announcement of Skype partnering with MySpace to integrate Skype into the MySpace IM client and into the site itself. Owen from Valleywag sums it up well, "The bottom line: Now you can call your MySpace friends right from the "add me" page!" I really don't see the value here and am betting most users will turn off the call function after the first few "perv" calls.

What about the business model? That's easy too -- people who use a free service such as MySpace are going to buy premium services from Skype to integrate into their MySpace profiles and IM. Sure, they will use the free calling, but I can't actually imagine many takers on the paid services. This contradicts what Amit Kapur, vice president of business development at MySpace said today, "If we can engage the user base in the right way and increase usage and create the right sort of premium experience that people want to participate in, as well as monetize around the free environment through advertising, it can be a viable business partnership".

Caroline at Webware has some interesting thoughts on the deal, "Only 25 million out of MySpace's 110 million active users have downloaded the MySpaceIM client. And neither company is at the top of its game. MySpace still leads the social-networking field in membership and traffic, but has lost its place in the spotlight to fast-growing rival Facebook. And Skype hasn't exactly turned out to be a real winner for eBay, with some critics saying that the two are mismatched.".

Om Malik notes, "The new client will give a big boost to both communities and is a net positive for both Skype and MySpace."

I guess we will wait and see once the service launches in November -- will it be a long-lasting relationship or a one-night stand? What are your thoughts? Will you enable this option on MySpace?