INTERNET Metails.com: Socialize while you shop online

The online service works by creating word-of-mouth buzz about hot products.
BOSTON (AP) -- Online retailer Buy.com is inviting itself into the expanding social networking scene, acquiring a Web site that rewards members with checks or gift certificates if they persuade others to buy their favorite products.
The purchase of Metails.com piggybacks on a growing phenomenon: online services that link people with common interests and friends, creating bonds that transcend social, economic and geographic boundaries.
Following the success of established services such as Friendster.com and Meetup.com, Metails.com encourages members to not only socialize but collectively create word-of-mouth buzz about hot products. Users create personal profiles on the site for free, search a database for others who share their purchasing and lifestyle habits and refer friends to products they like.
Unique experience
Jared Morgenstern, the year-old Boston-based startup's chief executive and co-founder, compares the site to "an online shopping mall experience with your friends."
Members can browse for specific products. The site plans to add a feature enabling users to filter out product recommendations from people they don't know or trust, Morgenstern said.
Privately held Buy.com, with 7 million customers, announced Monday it has acquired Metails.com for cash and private equity stock. Terms were not disclosed.
Buy.com hopes to reach young, tech-savvy consumers increasingly targeted by personalized marketing campaigns rather than traditional big media advertising.
"We're not going to beat Amazon. They're eight times bigger than us," Scott Blum, Buy.com's founder, chief executive and owner, said in an interview, referring to rival online retailer Amazon.com. "We have to take the tack that we're going to beat them in the long run. To do that, we have to focus on the next generation of shoppers."
Metails.com was founded by recent Harvard University graduates who started the business with their own money and help from friends and family. The founders have already moved to join Buy.com at its Aliso Viejo, Calif., offices.