Social (Networking) Animals

Humans are social animals—especially online.

Estimates have close to half of all Internet users belonging to hobby-oriented and social groups; a third to online professional communities. Canada has over 7 million active users of social networks—the highest number outside of the States.

Arguably, the Web is becoming a social platform. Approximately 850 social networks now exist, exploding to 250,000 within a year. If a network's value is determined by members and connections (aka the 'network effect'), MySpace wins gold. With over 100 million accounts, it's North America's most trafficked site.

What holds one back from joining a social network? Do they actually like communicating in person and on the phone? Don't they want to find their best friends from Grade Six? Or (cue ominous music) is it fear of advertisers' slimy tentacles pouring over their profiles?

It's no secret: advertisers hone in on users' personal info, preferences and online activity to target consumers. Why else did News Corp's Rupert Murdoch pay $580 million for MySpace's detailed user logs?

Advertisers salivate over MySpace's youth focus. The Gen Y/Millennial user (born between 1985-2002) is a hard-to-reach demographic (just ask their parents) that spends more time on their profiles than watching TV and movies. Domestically, that's over 5 million iPod—listening, instant-messaging, cell phone-texting, blog-writing technophiles-70 million in the US.

If the rest of us are "social animals", the Gen Y/Millennials are "social networking monsters".

But they are not the main drivers of social networking. Not yet. The fastest growing demographic, according to comScore Media Metrix, says 68% of MySpace users and half of Facebook's are over 25.

Social sites in general don't yet generate much profit and continue to struggle—and spend—to find their business model: eMarketer says US social network adspend rocketed up 163% in 2007 and predicts a 55% increase this year.

But while initiatives including MySpace's HyperTargeting and Facebook's Social Ads—which deliver ads based on users' published preferences—show decent returns, these new "behavioural" campaigns are difficult to plan and measure.

There are privacy pratfalls, too. Facebook's invasive Beacon programme published users' purchases (as indirect endorsements) to their 'friends', without the purchasers' consent. It met with such fervent opposition that Facebook, red-faced, made it opt-in, and has to look that much harder for ad partners.

Nevertheless, advertisers must be buoyed to hear 56% of 800 recently surveyed said that their social networking experience would improve if marketers pushed more targeted ads. 62% welcomed offers from their preferred brands.

Advertisers warmly welcome the reduction of the "six degrees of separation". A new trend, profile portability, lets users sign into a site with their existing profile from elsewhere. Google's Friend Connect service, MySpace's Data Availability and Facebook's Connect all spare users the task of replicating profile data. It also helps their advertisers target members of ever smaller communities.

(Incidentally, Facebook bans Friend Connect—they, like nearly every Internet business, own your data. A big mystery is how things might change if the data was truly the users' own, and a site merely played with it.)

Regarding social networking's future, 'The Economist' states that "[it] will not be one big social graph but instead myriad small communities on the Internet to replicate the millions that exist offline." Based on the trends, one Forrester Research analyst believes that in five to ten years, social networks will "…be like air: They will be anywhere and everywhere we need and want them to be."

As social animals, we have rushed to project ourselves online to connect with others. But if current trends are any indication, the commercial-free social networking human is careening towards the endangered species list.

(Submitted by Seth Klapman for 'Business Thompson Okanagan' June 2008 issue)

Have you any questions or comments? Can we help you at all with your Internet-based marketing needs? Please contact:

Seth Klapman, Marketing
Acro Media Inc.
103 - 2303 Leckie Road
Kelowna, BC, CANADA
V1X 6Y5
tel: 250.763.8884
fax: 250.763.6936

Acro Media Inc. (acromediainc.com) is an interactive agency that professionally delivers four main solution sets:

Ecommerce solutions—for product sales.
Corporate sites—for lead generation.
Showcase design—for brand building.
Portal sites—for community building and member services.

With a decade’s experience and team of 33, Acro Media ably provides:

Acro Media guarantees their work, and builds W3C valid search engine friendly Web sites.

Social (Networking) Animals June 15, 2008 Kelowna, BC
Social (Networking) Animals Humans are social animals—especially online. Estimates have close to half of all Internet users belonging to hobby-oriented and social groups; a third to online professional communities. Canada has over 7 million active users of social networks—the highest number outside of the States. Arguably, the Web is becoming a social platform. Approximately 850 social networks now exist, exploding to 250,000 within a year. If a network's value is determined by members and connections (aka the 'network effect'), MySpace wins gold. With over 100 million accounts, it's North America's most trafficked site. What holds one back from joining a social network? Do they actually like communicating in person and on the phone? Don't they want to find their best friends from Grade Six? Or (cue ominous music) is it fear of advertisers' slimy tentacles pouring over their profiles? It's no secret: advertisers hone in on users' personal info, preferences and online activity to target consumers. Why else did News Corp's Rupert Murdoch pay $580 million for MySpace's detailed user logs? Advertisers salivate over MySpace's youth focus. The Gen Y/Millennial user (born between 1985-2002) is a hard-to-reach demographic (just ask their parents) that spends more time on their profiles than watching TV and movies. Domestically, that's over 5 million iPod—listening, instant-messaging, cell phone-texting, blog-writing technophiles-70 million in the US. If the rest of us are "social animals", the Gen Y/Millennials are "social networking monsters". But they are not the main drivers of social networking. Not yet. The fastest growing demographic, according to comScore Media Metrix, says 68% of MySpace users and half of Facebook's are over 25. Social sites in general don't yet generate much profit and continue to struggle—and spend—to find their business model: eMarketer says US social network adspend rocketed up 163% in 2007 and predicts a 55% increase this year. But while initiatives including MySpace's HyperTargeting and Facebook's Social Ads—which deliver ads based on users' published preferences—show decent returns, these new "behavioural" campaigns are difficult to plan and measure. There are privacy pratfalls, too. Facebook's invasive Beacon programme published users' purchases (as indirect endorsements) to their 'friends', without the purchasers' consent. It met with such fervent opposition that Facebook, red-faced, made it opt-in, and has to look that much harder for ad partners. Nevertheless, advertisers must be buoyed to hear 56% of 800 recently surveyed said that their social networking experience would improve if marketers pushed more targeted ads. 62% welcomed offers from their preferred brands. Advertisers warmly welcome the reduction of the "six degrees of separation". A new trend, profile portability, lets users sign into a site with their existing profile from elsewhere. Google's Friend Connect service, MySpace's Data Availability and Facebook's Connect all spare users the task of replicating profile data. It also helps their advertisers target members of ever smaller communities. (Incidentally, Facebook bans Friend Connect—they, like nearly every Internet business, own your data. A big mystery is how things might change if the data was truly the users' own, and a site merely played with it.) Regarding social networking's future, 'The Economist' states that "[it] will not be one big social graph but instead myriad small communities on the Internet to replicate the millions that exist offline." Based on the trends, one Forrester Research analyst believes that in five to ten years, social networks will "…be like air: They will be anywhere and everywhere we need and want them to be." As social animals, we have rushed to project ourselves online to connect with others. But if current trends are any indication, the commercial-free social networking human is careening towards the endangered species list. (Submitted by Seth Klapman for 'Business Thompson Okanagan' June 2008 issue) Have you any questions or comments? Can we help you at all with your Internet-based marketing needs? Please contact: Seth Klapman, Marketing Acro Media Inc. 103 - 2303 Leckie Road Kelowna, BC, CANADA V1X 6Y5 tel: 250.763.8884 fax: 250.763.6936 Acro Media Inc. (acromediainc.com) is an interactive agency that professionally delivers four main solution sets: Ecommerce solutions—for product sales. Corporate sites—for lead generation. Showcase design—for brand building. Portal sites—for community building and member services. With a decade’s experience and team of 33, Acro Media ably provides: Web site design & development. Ecommerce & software integration. CMS & dynamic Web site solutions. Internet marketing & SEO. Online branding & corporate identity. Flash, interactive & motion design. Acro Media guarantees their work, and builds W3C valid search engine friendly Web sites.
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