The players: Ariel McNichol and Julia Johnston, co-CEOs of Mego

The play: Mego is a widget that contains personalized multimedia profiles that can live on social networking sites and blogs. Mego markets its service to consumers so they can create customized, visual representations of themselves to be used across their social networking sites. Mego is targeting the 14-to-24-year-old age group because they are heavy social network users.

The pitch: As social networking sites and services proliferate, Mego is pitching itself as a one-stop shop. Users create a profile once and can then upload that from one location to a range of sites, such as a blog or personal Web site, as well as to MySpace, Facebook and soon iPhones. Users can automatically include personal content from YouTube, Netflix, Flickr, Amazon and other sources in their Mego profiles. Mego updates automatically in real time as users update their profile. That lets heavy Internet users more easily manage their social networks.

In the mix: Ms. McNichol said Mego profiles are posted on more than 600 social networking sites around the world and generate 12 million widget views per month via viral distribution. A widget is a smaller representation of a site that lives on another Web site. Mego counts about 250,000 registered users and is adding more than 1,000 each day. Mego is in negotiations with major brands, television shows and movies for promotions to generate online interest in the service. Earlier this year, Mego powered a campaign for Adidas and singer Missy Elliot.

Backstory: Ms. McNichol and Ms. Johnston founded the company three years ago and have raised $4 million in angel funding. Mego is based in Los Angeles.

The money guys: The pair has not taken venture funding. Mego makes money through sponsored campaigns, such as the one for Adidas, as well as advertising on the site and the widget.

The pros: “We are like a one-stop shop for everything a 14- to 24-year-old would do online, like watch YouTube videos, check friend requests, make an avatar and create a profile,” Ms. Johnston said.

The cons: Mego is pursuing TV networks and brands for partnerships and ad dollars, but those companies receive tons of pitches from a wide range of online media firms each day. Mego will need to find ways to stand out with media companies who are weary.

Background: Ms. McNichol was born and raised in Los Angeles. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Before founding Mego, she had been involved with software, Web site and game product development and design for clients including Yahoo, AOL and Disney. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and her son. Ms. Johnston, born and raised in Toronto, earned an economics degree from Princeton and a law degree from the University of Toronto. Prior to Mego, she headed up business development for Asian media firm PCCW. She lives in Los Angeles. The two women met while working in London in 2000 on NOW.com, a PCCW company.

Who knew? Ms. McNichol had a baby three months before Mego’s launch and was known for sending e-mails from the delivery room. Ms. Johnston said she can speak in rhyme anytime and hold full conversations while rhyming everything she says.