Monster-owned Social Network Tickle Shutting Down (MNST)

It's officially (by our count) a trend: Another company that isn't Facebook or MySpace has stopped trying to run a social network. We've already seen Conde Nast and Verizon throw in the towel. Now time for today's entrant: Monster.com (MNST) which apparently owned something called Tickle.

What's Tickle? Well, it claims to be -- we don't know, because we've never heard of it until today -- the "leading interpersonal media company, providing self-discovery, and social networking services to more than 17 million active members in its community worldwide." It launched in 1999 as Emode.com, and Monster acquired it in 2004. And now it's giving up the ghost. The "Dear John" email, sent out to however many users the actually does have:

We will be shutting down Tickle as of June 30th 2008. You will no longer be able to access your saved test results after that date. If you would like to keep your test results, please print them out before that date. Many thanks for your understanding! ... There is no action required from your side, you don't have to delete your user account or cancel your subscription; Tickle will do this for you.

The company supposedly has 50 employees working out of a San Francisco office; we're inquiring about their status.

See Also:
Verizon Pulls Plug On Social Network, Reminds World It Had A Social Network