New Sugar website lets users take control

LONDON - Magazine publisher Hachette Filipacchi UK has launched a new website, Sugarscape.com, which it hopes teenage girls will use as a social bookmarking tool.

The new is a companion to the existing site, but differs in that content will be posted by users.

It invites users to download a special SugarScape toolbar, which adds buttons to their web browser. If they see a web page they like, they can click the "Sugar it" button to post a link on Sugarscape.

Content will be moderated by a company called Tempero.

Dave Killeen, the Hachette digital director who heads the team that developed the site, said: "Sugar readers use the web extensively. We're making the most of that by letting our readers tell each other what they find most interesting online."

Killeen added there would be opportunities for advertisers in the form of sponsorship beyond the normal banners, skyscrapers and MPUs.

Sugar is one of the few brands left standing in the teenage magazine sector, which has shrunk as readers have turned to the internet to get their news and gossip.

The monthly print title is the market leader, with an average circulation of 187,059 copies during the January-June 2007 period. This is down 6.6% over a year, while nearest competitor, Panini's Bliss, fell 43.5% over a year to 120,506 copies.

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