GigaOM

Multiply, a social network whose “protected” (not “closed,” says founder and president Peter Pezaris) nature is closest to Facebook and Six Apart’s Vox, is on Monday relaunching its site with some of the smoothest functionality we’ve seen in a while: mouse-overs for profile detail, easy toggles to sort through your network by degrees of separation, and simple web-based photo uploads. The problem is, Multiply isn’t completely open, and it doesn’t have a niche, so growth is hard. Current member count is 3.2 million. “To the extent that we have growth believe it’s more valuable that competition,” says Pezaris.