The Spanish-American “global Internet powerhouse” known as Terra Lycos unveiled yesterday the world’s first Internet network designed specifically for the creation of relationships. In the months to come, a new system will be gradually introduced, developing Lycos into a leader in connecting people around the world.

This is just one step Lycos is taking to restructure and redefine itself – a change that will result in job cuts of 20 percent according to some estimates. The firm, which has been losing money recently, also plans to offer subscription services such as online dating in an attempt to improve revenues.

By turning non-paying visitors into paying customers, Lycos hopes to become one of the world’s top locations for personal connections, an increasingly popular area of the Internet. The Lycos.com homepage will soon be converted into a starting place for people to make these connections, with the promise of improved navigation and a new “search hub” aimed at allowing people to find each other and groups of interest with ease.

Lycos already provides several tools, including Angelfire.com, Tripod.com, and Matchmaker.com, which allow people to use the Internet to form relationships with each other. It plans to create a stronger network over the next few months in hopes of making it easier to establish these online connections.

“Lycos is building a business that capitalizes on the most rapidly developing area of the Internet — integrating the burgeoning networking phenomenon with our proven business models in online publishing, dating, robust search and more,” said Mark Stoever, executive vice president of Terra Lycos, U.S. “Lycos will be the first to bring together the entire spectrum of ways people connect online, becoming a must-visit daily tool.”

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