Surprise, Surprise, Social Networking Ads Suck
from the as-expected dept
One of the questions that came up last week in Edinburgh was whether or not social networking sites were really the big moneymakers they claimed to be. In the discussion, what we agreed on, was that the social networking sites had done a good job in doing an "upfront" monetization, with MySpace getting a guaranteed ad deal from Google and Facebook getting a guaranteed deal from Microsoft. However, all the details suggested that on the backend things were pretty ugly. It's not hard to figure out why. Ads work on Google because people are looking for information. They do a search, and if the advertisement shows information that helps with the query, that makes everyone happy. However, when it comes to a social network, usage is quite different. People aren't looking for information about products -- they're looking to communicate with friends. In that environment, ads are seen as an intrusion -- which is the exact opposite of ads in a search world. That explains why Facebook was so focused on its Beacon offering, which was designed to try (rather unsuccessfully so far) to make an advertisement about communicating with your friends.With all that said, I estimated that within a year, advertisers would begin to back away from social network advertising, unless some new, more effective, mechanism was found. I figured it would take about a year, because the mindset of advertisers would still be focused on just getting ads on these "hot properties" and it would take some time before they realized that no one looked at the ads. Apparently, my estimate was wrong. Brands are already staying away. At least, that was a major point behind Google missing its earnings estimates. It seems unlikely that this situation will get much better, unless social networks really do come up with a different form of advertising. They need to recognize that simply throwing up ads doesn't work any more. An advertisement can't be intrusive. It can't be annoying. It needs to be relevant and wanted.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: advertising, earnings, social networks
Companies: google
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Stealth Marketing Time!
Tada! Problem solved, synergy achieved!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Myspace has an interesting form of advertismets
It was a simple idea, but it works. I have learned about 300 and Cloverfield through these myspace advertisements, and I went to watch both movies.
However I do suspect the real money in running myspace is in the user statics.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
With all those teenage boys....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anothe reason
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Huge numbers of pages, low rates per thousand.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/31/how-much-is-a-facebook-ad-worth-lookery-guar antees-drum-roll-125-cent-cpms/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What's your nitch?
In other words, lets say the social networking site were specifically for movie fanatics, and just ran ad's according to that nitch...do you think the ad's would be more welcomed and successful?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ever Heard of TV?
If an "advertisement can't be intrusive" and "needs to be relevant and wanted", how do you explain commercial television?
Marc Cohen
Check out the Ad-Supported Music Central blog:
http://ad-supported-music.blogspot.com/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
@Marc Cohen
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
business application
Visit now: http://www.facebookster.com"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Boy, did I get that one wrong...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Boy, did I get that one wrong...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Don't worry too much about being "targeted" either. People are USED TO ADS. They are not going to click on them (in Facebook) unless they really WANT to see the message.
That is the point. If they WANT to see the ad - how is that untargeted?
You only pay for clicks. You get Free branding and you get to target using available demographic profiling. I'd say that's targeted!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
social network
.......................
cvinodani
Social media marketing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Great Title
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Facebook Developer UK
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Got Niche? Social Newtorking is a niche thang...
i think people would be better off marketing a product related to the niche of the age or demographics of the users.
unfortunately, this takes a coordination effort between the site and the advertisers.
i see ads on facebook that are unrelated to what i want all the time. i have a telecommute site and i tried to get ads to advertise my telecommute site and they turned it down saying they don't want 'home business opportunities' ummm..hello? these are jobs! but what do they know. they see my anti obama postings all over facebook and continue to shovel 'obama stimulus package' ads down my throat when i continuously mark those as offensive to me. good job facebook.
find the niche and a system that uses the niche wisely and you'll find more clicks.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]