Mumbai: Three social media leaders will keynote at MIPTV on 10 April when the spotlight will be focused on social networking– MySpace/Fox Interactive Media managing director, international Travis Katz, BEBO president Joanna Shields, and Creative Commons chairman Joi Ito. The 45th MIPTV featuring MILIA, the world’s audiovisual and digital content market, runs in Cannes from 7-11 April 2008.

These three key industry players will give their vision of entertainment in the age of content-sharing across different platforms, how to monetize content today, and the current position of the players involved, including creators, producers, distributors and brands.

Since launching in 2004, MySpace has become the world’s largest social network, with 28 localized versions, in 14 languages. Katz will look at the global evolution of the Social Web and examine the opportunities now available to content creators, consumers and brands as they converge in this new arena.

With over 40 million members, BEBO, in the process of being acquired by AOL, was the first network to combine original web content and interactivity by launching into broadcasting and commissioning online series like KateModern, Sophia’s Diary and The Gap Year. Shields will discuss these new formats and analyze their influence on consumer behavior and impact on new forms of monetization linked notably to the strong involvement of brands.

Ito offers an alternative system for protecting rights inspired by the free license model, will offer a new vision of downloading by suggesting that content sharing is not a "lost sale" but rather a "gained fan". Ito will defend the opinion that this is a flourishing sector where all participants stand to win.

In addition to these three keynotes, two panels will complete the line-up for the focus on social networking at MIPTV. One will cover the theme of marketing and advertising, the other creativity and new content formats.