Orange is unveiling a WAP platform that aggregates multiple social networks in one service. It displays the most popular functions for the networks side-by-side to avoid having to access the sites’ specific mobile offerings. Named “My Social Place” in France, where it has been available for a month, the service – provided by NewBay – includes international deals with Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, plus local deals with Skyrock and Dailymotion in France, Meetic in Spain and France, and Flirtomatic in the UK.
The service will be hosted on the Orange World deck, though there are plans to convert it to an app. It will launch next in the UK after the summer and later in Switzerland, Spain and Portugal, where negotiations are taking place to carry those countries’ uniquely popular nets, Orange told me.
In October, Orange began offering Bebo to PAYG customers via a £3-a-month ($6) tariff, then added more network links to the portal. The move to unification and simplicity echoes T-Mobile’s recent adoption of My Social Sites, a fee-based white-label version of Intercasting’s Anthem social net aggregation app. But My Social Place will be free, Orange said. Release.