Viacom today launched a new social networking site under the MTV name, with the distinctive characteristic of being devoted to youth activism.
ThinkMTV.com today moved out of beta and is open to the public. Though it may be tough to compete against giants like Facebook and Myspace, MTV is taking a different approach to set itself apart from the basic friend-connecting style of the existing sites.
ThinkMTV will be a place for users to meet and discuss political and economic issues. MTV's "Think" brand is used to promote awareness for things like the power of the youth vote.
At its core, ThinkMTV.com will be a social networking platform just like countless other sites. MTV hopes its core message will be heard, though, and will bring something different to the table.
"The Think platform creates an umbrella to be able to talk about a number of issues at a time," said MTV president Christina Norman in a Reuters interview.
ThinkMTV.com has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Case Foundation (set up by AOL founder Steve Case), and a couple other charitable groups.
The new site launches in the middle of the most widely discussed early presidential campaign in history. The elections will be a major part of the site, according to MTV.
