AOL Expands Reach into Social Networking with Android App (ContributorNetwork)

AOL announced its anticipated layoffs last week in a company memo that was subsequently leaked to the media. The layoffs included about 900 people in total, with approximately 700 jobs being cut from their workforce in India and another 200 jobs cut in the United States. That hasn't stopped the company's momentum as they try to go forward with their expansion of AOL Radio and other plans.

While chairman of AOL Tim Armstrong tried to emphasize the recent acquisition of the Huffington Post and streamlining of its business model is aimed at promoting quality content, others remain skeptical. The restructuring of AOL has also included more investment in the music portion of their business, specifically the promotion and now expansion of AOL Radio into a music-sharing and social network hybrid.

AOL Radio has been an asset for the company since its launch in 2001, although it's gone through a few redesigns and relaunches. It partnered with XM Radio for a while beginning in 2005, and runs through Radio.com as a free streaming service, albeit one that forces you to listen to ads first.

Now, with the new Android App that AOL has launched with T-Mobile, it's expanding AOL Radio into a social network of sorts. Music listeners can update what they're listening to just like they would update Facebook or Twitter, and they can send updates to either of those two sites as well, without having to switch off from the music app.

The acquisition of the Huffington Post and the launch of the Android App for AOL Radio are part of a massive restructuring effort on AOL's part to help stem the revenue loss that they've seen over the last few years. In one of the first steps in that restructuring they laid off 1,000 people in January of 2010, citing the need to streamline costs. That streamlining continued throughout last year, as AOL left some European nations where their operations were failing, including France, and sold off under-performing businesses like ICQ.

CEO of AOL Tim Armstrong used to be the head advertising honcho for Google, and has made no secret of the fact that he wants to reposition AOL to be the global leader in Internet content. The acquisition of the Huffington Post and AOL's reach into social networking with their new Android App are poised to be cornerstones of the company's new direction.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110803/us_ac/8077654_aol_expands_reach_into_social_networking_with_android_app

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