News Flash: Social Networkers Don’t Care About Ads
December 9th, 2008 by Nubby
eMarketer has just confirmed our suspicions with its recent report that social networkers frequent sites like Myspace and Facebook to communicate with each other, not with brands.
More than one half of the U.S. population uses social networking sites, yet massive ad revenues have yet to materialize. Selling ad space on social networking sites was already an uphill battle before the economic downturn, but now it’s getting even more difficult. While 79% of all internet consumers have clicked on an advertisement in the past year, only 57% of those frequenting social networking sites have done so.
Barak Rabinowitz has described the challenge of monetizing social networks as the “elephant in the room” of online advertising. He claims that “It’s 400 million social networkers creating and consuming content, clustering around shared interests and activities—all who have yet to be tapped in any major way by Web marketers.”
With a deepening recession and millions of social networkers avoiding online ads by all means possible, what is the answer? How will these sites continue to remain in business if the ad dollars don’t start flowing?
Tags: Advertising, Blogging, social media, Social Networking
December 9th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Well, some think it can’t last..as I posted Facebook, Circling The Drain?
December 9th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
How will these sites continue to remain in business if the ad dollars don’t start flowing?
Maybe with providing some premium services? (like Flickr does for example)
Enabling high resolution photo uploads, unlimited storage space, etc etc…
December 10th, 2008 at 8:57 am
[...] one of Dave Allen’s recent Tweets – over to his agency’s blog, Social Cache, he confirms what many of us in the advertising and marketing worlds have been [...]
December 10th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Ron Shoshani: That’s exactly what everyone is wondering. Flickr has done an amazing job of offering quality services at a great price and the other social networking sites could learn from its example. Perhaps Myspace or Facebook could offer premium accounts with more options like high resolution photo uploads and better customization options for a small yearly fee. At the very least, if advertising doesn’t pan out, they could still generate a solid income from their users.
December 10th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Good post Nubby. Are you surprised that banner ads and billboards aren’t working anymore – especially on social networking platforms?
When will advertisers stop with their old ways and start developing content, dialogue, apps, and other two-way vehicles that may actually compel consumers? When will they stop talking, spamming and hitting consumers over the head with their brands and actually begin listening, learning and interacting more relationally?