Comcast Acquires Plaxo

Comcast is acquiring Plaxo, presumably to further integrate social media, based on address books and the social application Pulse, into Comcast applications.

Plaxo will remain an independent operation in Silicon Valley, reporting into Comcast Interactive Media, which is a division of Comcast that develops and operates Internet businesses focused on entertainment, information and communication.

Plaxo says it already has on its road map projects to socially enable the Comcast media experience on the Comcast.net portal, Fancast and Fandango as well as content on TV screens.

Plaxo already provides the universal address book for Comcast’s SmartZone communications center, and now also hosts all of the address book accounts for Comcast Web mail users.

Plaxo suggests it will help Comcast make “social media” a natural part of the lives of regular people, not just early adopters. Plaxo suggests applications will include the ability to securely post family photos online in Pulse and have them viewable by any of your family members, whether they are online, at work, on their mobile device, or in their living room watching TV.

Comcast also will use Plaxo to create recommendation engines that allow viewers to find new content.

Consider this an example of how social media is a feature, not a business model in its own right.