In trying to catch up on many things I missed, I came across this pre-Xmas article on AOL, which expects to end the user with more users than at the end of 2005. It must be chaos internally at AOL given all the departures and changes. But if the expectation proves to be true, it will mean that AOL has stopped the bleeding and is on a clear path toward growth.
On might argue that Google has become the new AOL (okay, awkward transition). According to this USAToday article, comScore projects that Google (w/YouTube) will be the No. 1 web property on a global basis in 2007. Few people may remember how dominant AOL was a few years ago.
The analogy breaks down when you consider that Google isn’t the “walled garden” AOL was (although one could argue that Google is doing a less visible version of the same thing). But comparing the two sites is instructive as a kind of metaphor for the changes on the Internet overall.
Screenwerk 