MySpace Bags Flanigan for Audience Development Role

Barry Flanigan, former Head of Marketing at Telegraph Media Group (TMG), has joined social networking site MySpace as Director of Marketing and Audience Development for the UK and Ireland.

Flanigan joined TMG at the beginning of 2008, but left the newspaper publisher in October when his role was scrapped as part of a restructure of the marketing and digital departments.

Yesterday, TMG announced it has opened a new research department, to identify opportunities in existing and emerging markets, as well as analyse the challenges facing the business and industry as a whole.

Flanigan was previously Head of Marketing at AOL UK, prior to which, he held senior roles at Level 3 Communications and Ovum. He has a PhD in Advanced Telecommunications from the University of Cambridge.

His new remit at MySpace includes consumer insights and research, audience development, traffic acquisition, community marketing and online PR, external media campaigns, content partnerships, and management of external media and creative agencies.

California, US-headquartered MySpace is owned by Fox Interactive Media, which in turn is owned by News Corporation. The firm employs around 300 staff.

Web site: www.myspace.com .