(1 November 2008 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: US net service provider AOL has announced a new homepage which will let consumers access multiple social networking services directly from AOL.com.

This follows the move last month to provide access to multiple e-mail services from the AOL.com site, and is part of AOL's ongoing strategy to open its homepage, http://www.aol.com, to outside services and content - offering consumers more customisation options.

The new social networking feature allows consumers to post status updates to multiple social networks at once, and provides profile activity information, including new friend requests, status updates and mail notifications from services such as AIM, Bebo, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and other third-party sites.

AOL.com also launched new tools and features to further personalise the user experience, bringing together third-party content and services from across the Internet. The new features give consumers more control over how content and services are displayed, letting them customize the main navigation bar by adding their own Web links, receive continuously updated local news, access RSS feeds from across the Web directly from the main page of AOL.com as well as personalize their experience with new design themes.

AOL programming executive VP Bill Wilson says, "As the Web becomes more fragmented, consumers want choice and relevance in their Web experiences. AOL.com is the first traditional big portal to offer access to popular social networking sites all in one place.

" Now consumers can connect with their numerous networks and information sources all from AOL.com. We have already seen success by opening up AOL.com to other e-mail providers. We will continue to enhance the appeal of our portal with the changes we are making today by adding more relevant programming, customization opportunities, greater integration of third party content, improved design and access to social networks directly from AOL.com."

As part of this redesign, AOL's digital advertising business Platform A, http://platform-a.com and AOL.com are offering robust capabilities for advertisers including customised wallpapers, increased rich media capabilities, content integration opportunities. For example, a recent one-day advertisement for a new DVD provided a chance for the advertiser to own the AOL.com homepage wallpaper for the day to reach consumers in a measurable way.

In September, the AOL.com site began allowing consumers access to Yahoo!, Gmail and Hotmail accounts, in addition to AOL and AIM Mail, allowing them to check e-mail from multiple accounts without having to go from site to site.