AOL's S-N site: Sneak peeks

AOL's soon-to-be-unveiled social-networking offering will be called AIM Pages, probably bringing more visual effects and customization tools to the socializing that its 47.6 million AIM instant-messaging users do. "It's a way to marry AIM with MySpace by offering customizable pages that teens and others can use to create their own world while also instant messaging," says USATODAY in its snapshot of how the Internet giant's doing. USATODAY says that, with AIM Pages, "you could tape your own music video countdown show with a webcam or video camera, using your own intros and AOL's library of music videos. AOL will provide the tools to merge the homegrown video with, say, videos from Shakira and Madonna, and post the show online for the world to see." Here's an earlier Business Week peek: "AOL: MySpace invader." Later this week, AOL announced it was adding free phoning to AIM by the end of this month, CNET reported. AIM Phoneline will allow AIM users "to receive incoming calls from any phone."

In other social-networking news, Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly this week called on MySpace "to strengthen protection of children against sexual predators, including raising the minimum age for users to 18 from 14," Reuters reported, and Knowledge@Wharton goes broad and deep about the whole business.