Woodland Hills-based United Online disclosed on its quarterly earnings call late Wednesday that it is cutting 96 employees, as part of a move to increase efficiency and streamline operations at the firm. According to the firm, 71 of the employees are being cut from Classmates Media Segment, which includes Classmates.com, with the remaining 25 from its Communications Segment, which includes its dialup service. The cuts are equal to five percent of the firm's overall workforce. The firm said the reduction in force is part of a restructuring plan for the two areas.

But, in running it now for the second half of January, the keyword that popped to the top was: Layoffs And this is definitely a sign of the times. When I drill down on that term, you can see why with posts like: Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Lops A Third Of Company THQ Lays Off 100 Employees, Closes San Diego Office Citrix Cuts 10 Percent; Santa Barbara Hit And it's also interesting to see what geographies are being associated with "Layoffs" more often than others: Layoffs Woodland Hills Layoffs San Diego Layoffs Santa Monica Layoffs Los Angeles I guess