Orange is bringing together a number of leading European social networking sites within its Orange World portal. The new service combines access to the sites popular functions into a single destination. The news follows the completion of partnership agreements with MySpace, Facebook and Bebo, whose members will be able to view their profile updates, including emails, comments from friends, and recently-uploaded pictures, alongside others from Skyrock, Pikeo, Flirtomatic, DailyMotion and Meetic. Orange notes, however, that Facebook and Bebo and Flirtomatic are available initially only in the UK, while Skyrock and DailMotion are available initially only in France, and Meetic is available initially only in Spain and France.
The service, which lets users keep in touch with their friends wherever they are, has launched in France and will follow soon in the UK, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. It works by displaying the most popular functions of multiple social networks side by side these so that they can be accessed more simply with one click. Consumers will now be able to receive and send messages, upload photos and check status updates without having to browse individual URLs or log into separate sites. Orange plans to evolve the service from Orange World to an embedded application, accessible from the home screen of Orange Signature phones. It says the ultimate goal is to bring these communities together across all three screens: mobile, PC and TV. 
Our partnership with MySpace shows that mobile is a seamless extension of the online experience, not an alternative to it, says Olaf Swantee, Head of Orange Global Mobile Operations. This service illustrates how Orange is aggregating digital content to simplify access to social networks from mobile devices. In future, Orange will deliver digital entertainment across mobile, TV and broadband, giving consumers content not just where they want it, but how they want it.
Paul-Francois Fournier, Senior Vice President for Portal Strategy and Online Advertising at Orange adds that the new service supports Oranges cross-platform advertising strategy with a compelling offer for advertisers to reach all those different communities in one single place on Orange World portals.