Social Media Needs Advertising, Social Users Don’t

February 18, 2008 on 10:18 am | In Advertising, Blogs, Media, Networking, Online, Social Media | 1 Comment

Here’s the deal. Someone must pay for the social networking sites because as we all know: nothing is free. Facebookers and MySpacers just don’t want ads, but those sites have to find a revenue stream. What’s a social site to do?

According to Online Publishing Insider,

Social media needs advertising. People don’t usually pay to be on social networking sites — but, they also don’t want ads infringing on their online space either. So it’s imperative that social networking publishers find a way to cater to their users and offer them well-placed, valuable offers that show an understanding of each person’s specific interests and needs. For example an 18-year-old woman likely has no use for a flashy banner ad for “interest-only mortgages” at the top of her MySpace profile, but would be much more inclined to show interest in a special offer from Old Navy, Blockbuster or Dove that better suits her lifestyle and state of mind.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Is there a way to meet the needs of both parties, or will social sites wither and die?

PS – speaking of social media, why don’t you become a Facebook fan of My Creative Team.

Other Posts Of Interest

  • http://my-creativeteam.com Mark Harrison

    Advertising and data mining appear to be the only ways to support Social Media at this point. It’s much too early to ask people to pay for using these services.

    Down the road, maybe the college alumni associations could outsource their member communications to someone like Facebook. Back to the egg.

Powered by WordPress with Pool theme design by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds. Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^