imeem sheds UGV & UGP, scrambles to keep U

June 29, 1:08 PMSF Social Media ExaminerKen Grobe

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imeem will no longer allow user-submitted photos or video.

In local SocMed company news, second-tier-but-still-pretty-massive social network imeem has alerted its users that users can no longer upload photos or videos, and soon won’t be able to access user-generated ones. They’re shedding those aspects of their service in order to focus on their core audience: sharers of music & playlists.

“Simply put,” they wrote in a June 25 post, “There’s no ROI for us in UGV.”

Predictably, their user base is going a little nuts over the news.

In their coverage, ReadWriteWeb criticized imeem’s handling of the transition:

Overall, we would have to side with imeem's users and it doesn't look like the company is handling this current affair very well. Comments on the blog post are closed, nobody from imeem's staff (as far as we can see) is interacting with customers on imeem's forums, and the service isn't giving paying customers a chance to get a refund.

Imeem, to their credit, listened and acted quickly.

Timely transparency from imeem.

Barely three hours after the news story broke on ReadWriteWeb, imeem stepped up on three fronts:

1. Matt Graves, imeem's VP of marketing and communications showed up on ReadWriteWeb to elaborate and address commenters’ concerns.

2. The announcement post on imeem, which didn’t allow comments initially, finally allowed them a day later…although it does seem like a little cherry-picking is taking place.

3. The surge of user comments did prompt imeem to add another ten days to their deadline for photos, to allow users to “transition those photos to other services.”

It does my heart good when a company—particularly one I like—avoids a Motrin-mom stonewalling debacle. I’m sure imeem will still shed users over their decision, but they’re handling it in the way a good social media company should—with transparency, customer focus, and by living to fight another day.

Staying afloat, for now.

imeem’s core competency is that of sharing music—I used their player widget for band promotion for months when it first came out—and they have built a strong community from that. Though these days I question whether any company that’s trying to make its rent from music is long for this world.

Regardless, if shared video, and the bandwidth costs that come with it, is causing imeem to bleed out their recent $2.4 million infusion, then it goes. Shrinking their footprint might help imeem stick around when the shakeout ends.

Thanks to Michael Robertson for the heads-up on this news.
 

 
Additional links:

Reuters: Better Licensing Terms May Not Be Enough To Save imeem

Reuters: imeem Raised About $2.4 Million; Still Looking For More