The late Mr. McKelvey
and his Monster

Ad Networks and Analytics:

• Media6 Degrees, a social graph-mapping ad company, has exited beta. The firm promises to provide clients with scalable audiences using social graph data. It is currently floating on $9 million in VC funding.

Agencies and Marketing Execs:

• Serial Entrepreneur Andrew J. McKelvey died last week in his Manhattan home. McKelvey is credited with building Monster.com.
• Ex-Helio exec Gary Cooperman joins affiliate ad firm Hydra as Executive VP-finance and administration.
• Moxie Interactive adds three: Paul Santello, SVP-group communications; Brian Mathena, SVP-group media director; and Sara Francis, VP-group account director.
• Richard Sutton, formerly of Warner Brothers, joins WebMD as SVP-sales, consumer markets.

Biz Buzz:

• Rumor has it that Microsoft may yet buy Yahoo for $20 billion.
• FeedRoom, an enterprise online video platform, acquired ClearStory Systems, which purveys digital asset management software. The latter says video has become "a top priority" for its clients.

Campaigns of Note:

• YouTube is reportedly seeking classical musicians for an online orchestra. Users have until January 28 to submit video entries.

Mobile:

• Streaming TV show site Joost has launched applications for the iPhone and the iPod touch. The service is ad-supported and available to users at no cost through the App Store.
• The Advanced Television Systems Committee is proposing agnostic standards for digital mobile TV.
• Like the BlackBerry Storm before it, analysts are panning Nokia's N97 — another so-called iPhone killer.

Overseas:

• After withdrawing a number of paid ad swindlers from its PPC program, Baidu's ad revenue dropped 10-15%.

Publishing:

• NetShelter Technology Media now ranks number one on the list of comScore Media Metrix's Technology News Web Properties, outranking previous segment leader CNET. NetShelter reaches eight percent of the total US online audience — 15.3 million unique visitors a month. It launched in 2006.
• The Times plans to scrap a number of "casual subeditors." Others will lose hours or receive cut pay.

Search:

• Some say Yang's lingering presence at Yahoo is hurting the company's quest for a new CEO.

Social Networks:

• A number of community sites have cropped up to leverage the power of prayer. These include ipraytoday.com, ourprayer.org and prayabout.com.
• Copious Twitter coverage of the Mumbai attacks reveal real-time experiences of Twitter users stationed at the scene.
• Ning, a site that enables users to create their own social networks, is kicking adult-oriented networks off its platform as of January 1.