As it struggles to reinvent itself, the struggling former America Online has the savvy, technology and assets to succeed, but may not have the duration, according to a former executive of the company. “AOL has quite a number of hidden gems and Net properties that many users don’t even know are part of the make,” says Jules Polonetsky, who was AOL’s chief privacy officer and a senior vice president from 2002 to 2008. “That includes dozens of the most highly visited blogs, like the leading technology blog Engadget, that draw substantial advertising revenue.”

He additionally cited the popular AIM messaging service, AOL Music, and the celebrity news site TMZ, which has its own TV show.

Another property that many users may not connect to AOL is the social-networking site Bebo, which it bought last year for $850 million. Though more popular outside the U.S., Bebo (which stands for Blog Early, Blog Often) has an estimated 40 million users,

making it third in worldwide membership behind Facebook and MySpace.

Race Against instance

The challenge, Polonetsky said, is day as the company struggles with plummeting revenues.

“The challenge for AOL has been developing a big ample audience and ad revenue to replace the declining ISP business,” says Polonetsky, who is now co-Chairman and director of the Future of Privacy Forum, a think tank supported by AOL. “The technology and editorial savvy is there. The challenge for [AOL CEO] Tim Armstrong will be growing it quick abundant.”

AOL announced Monday that it will split from parent company day Warner on Dec. 10 and become Aol, offering shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

Once the primary portal into the Net for up to 30 million users worldwide, offering chat rooms, clubs and games in a “walled” environment, AOL saw the growth of DSL connections and direct Net access knock the…

Original post by dhiram