Why Are Meredith and Gannett Getting Social Now?

(MoneyWatch)  I've been joking a lot lately that you're better off working in a building where the windows don't open, lest the headlines make you want to jump out of them. But in a break from the dirge-like background drone of massive layoffs and revenue declines, two recent news stories jumped out at me because they didn't fit that mold: One about Gannett buying a company called Ripple6, and another about Meredith taking a minority investment in the RealGirls Media Network.

Neither Gannett nor Meredith have exactly been immune to the decline in the economy. Gannett, in fact, is in the process of laying off 10 percent of its employees, or 3,000 people, and Meredith has had its share of staff cutbacks as well.

So why would they be in acquisition mode? Both Ripple6 and RealGirls are social media companies, and, despite the economic malaise, social media tools are increasingly considered a must-have for media companies -- even at a time when many reporters, editors and ad sales people are considered expendable. To those in the content-producing business, maybe the headlines trumpeting these deals are depressing at a time when so many publishing jobs are in jeopardy. However, like it or not, we are rapidly moving into a world in which all Web sites will be social, because online users want to express their opinions, no matter where they are on the Web. You can thank MySpace and Facebook for creating this demand.

Neither Gannett's acquisition nor Meredith's investment were big enough to be material to either company. Despite Facebook's estimated $15 billion valuation -- at least pre-financial crisis -- most social media companies just aren't that pricey. Despite the chaos all around, now's the time to get in.