Final Post

Over the past ten weeks, I have been sharing recent news and stories about social networking and it's role in promoting products through this blog. What I have learned about this topic has opened my eyes and allowed me to look at this type of online promotion from a whole different angle. This blog post will contain my most prominent and repetitive findings.

Promotion through social networking sites is becoming a popular marketing tool for anyone from small businesses to major corporations. The banner ads displayed on social networking websites are becoming obsolete. These ads are often ignored and don't turn out a high response rate. Through this whole project, the only banner ad I actually took notice to was on Myspace for the Myspace Impact awards. The only reason I noticed this banner ad was because it didn't change after clicking on links like most banner ads do. For banner ads to catch the eye, something needs to be done that is out of the ordinary.

With that said, companies and organizations have started to get creative when it comes to promotion on social networking sites. For example, one of my blog posts talked about politicians creating profiles on social networking sites to rally support. Another talked about a Myspace profile page created for Jesus by the charity Churches Advertising Network who hoped the connection with Jesus would encourage young people to attend church during the holidays. Even the three big television networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC were getting creative with social networking in order to promote their fall shows this year. The networks paired up with social networking sites where they created profiles for their shows, displayed banners, and started contests.

Creativity was also shown when some companies integrated social networking with new technology. For example, one of my posts talked about social networking in mobile phones which alerts the phone carrier of people, places, and things that match their interests which they are in close proximity to. These phones also have the ability to send ads to the phone carrier. Social networking is also appearing in many online games such as Faketown. In Faketown, players interact with other players to buy, sell, and trade virtual products. The real life products talked about in the games greatly benefit from word of mouth promotion.

Speaking of word of mouth promotion, consumer recommendations have proven to be a very effective form of promotion through social networking sites. Consumers value the opinions of others which is why the Faketown discussion of products can be very beneficial. The Yuku boards, which are a combination of a Myspace site an an EZboard message board, also have the same affect. These boards are broken down into topics and give people with similar interests an opportunity to communicate about a certain topic. For example, one of their message boards, Books Galore, displays a "Book of the Month" forum where an individual book is promoted to "book worms". Other forums on that board contain discussion and recommendations of different authors and books from one user to another.

I have learned that for promotion to be effective on social networking sites, it can not be intrusive. If it is incorporated into the overall theme of the social networking site, it has a better chance of working. For example, there are many social networking sites that specialize in a certain theme. If people or products relating to these niche topics can be intertwined in these sites, it is seen as relevant and looked upon more favorably. Social networking music sites such as Qloud and iLike help to promote individual songs or artists through their social networking features such as ratings, tags, plays, and friend pages. A social networking site for "foodies" called Group Recipes is able to promote individual brands of food in the recipes they share. DailyStrength, a social networking site for the health conscious is able to take certain medicines or medical devices, give it a success percentage of members who have found it useful, and display member comments about that particular product. Flickr has just recently offered a Camera Finder feature which tracks the popularity of cameras used by Flickr members and displays information about them. If the product promotion can fit in with the social networking experience it becomes more successful.

For the most part, promotion through social networking sites has been beneficial, but it must be done with caution. Marketing deception can easily be done through these websites. An example of this is my very first blog post about "lonelygurl15". At first people thought Bree was a normal teenage girl who made videos of herself and put them up on the internet, but it turns out she is an actress who was hired by a talent agency to possibly promote an upcoming horror film. Hate pages through social networking sites can also be easily tracked down. This point is further illustrated in my blog post about Julia Wilson, the 14 year old girl who made a hate page for President Bush. This page caused enough commotion that official authorities showed up to Julia's school to question her about it. It has been proven that potential employers and colleges have the ability to check an individual's social networking profile when considering them for a position. Many take advantage of this opportunity and decisions have been swayed because of them.

However, as long as smart decisions are made regarding promotion through social networking websites, the good definitely outweighs the bad.

Facebook Holiday Center

The other day I was looking around the Facebook (http://www.facebook.com) website. I don't log in too often, so there are always new features to see when I do. On the main page, there was a link to the Facebook Holiday Center (http://ithaca.facebook.com/thanksgiving.php) that continually kept being promoted. Curious to what it was, I decided to click on the link and check it out.

Going along with the recent Thanksgiving holiday, the Facebook Holiday Center was created to help the social networking site do something special for the holiday. The Holiday Center is now still in Thanksgiving mode and offers the ability for Facebook members to give and receive thanks between themselves and their facebook friends. The whole page is full of sample thanks ideas containing the name of the logged in user and one of their friends. Pictures of both people are also displayed. However, in the middle of these sample ideas are advertisements that are worded in the same way as the Facebook Holiday Center samples.

For example, the page reads as follows:

( Name of logged in user) thanked (Name of friend #1) for tagging her in a photo.
(Name of logged in user) thanked (Name of friend #2) for writing on her wall.
(Picture of I-tunes gift card) Apple is thankful for the creative impulses and personal preferences that make us unique. Give the perfect gift with an iTunes Gift Card or an Apple Store Gift Card, and include a personal message with your order.

The page continues like that with advertisements interspersed between the sample thank you's. Other companies advertised on the page are Bank of America, Verizon Wireless, and Motorola Razr phones. To me it seems that by wording the advertisements like the Facebook content, the advertisers are almost trying to subliminally promote their product to the Facebook user. They will get in a rhythm of reading the alike worded samples, and the ads will fall right in with those.

In my opinion, I don't think that this type of promotion will be very successful. I feel as though the advertisers are trying to relate unrelatable products to the Facebook content. When the products don't relate to the site it confuses the user and interrupts their social networking experience.

What do you think? Have you noticed these sporadic ads in the Facebook Holiday Center? Do they bother you and your Facebook experience or do you think they are a clever idea? Leave your opinion in a comment!

Flickr Camera Finder

While I took a week off from blogging due to the Thanksgiving holiday, the social networking world has been booming. Many new trends and features have come to the forefront, one of which is the Flickr Camera Finder (http://www.flickr.com/cameras/).

Pete Cashmore of the Mashable blog (http://www.mashable.com) made a post (http://mashable.com/2006/11/21/flickr-launches-camera-finder/ )about the Camera Finder last week. Being a photo sharing social networking site, Flickr decided to integrate camera specifics into the site. The Flickr Camera Finder tracks the popularity of cameras used by users on Flickr and conveys information about them. It also contains links to websites on where to purchase these cameras.

This new invention by Flickr could turn out to be very beneficial to camera manufacturers. Through the Camera Finder, information about cameras is promoted for free. This information stems from recommendations of Flickr users which many people already find useful when searching for something new. Since Flickr users are very involved and interested in photography, the camera stats are passed along to their niche target audience through one site. These users also don't find the promotion offensive or annoying since it correlates with the subject matter of the site. In my opinion, it is a win win situation for both sides.

What do you think? If you were a photography buff, would you find the new Flickr feature useful? Would that information play into your next camera purchase? Leave your opinions in a comment!

Self Promotion on Social Networking Sites

We've all heard the myths. Anyone who is vaguely familiar with the internet and social networking know the rumors of potential employers checking up on job applicants through social networking sites.

Jeffrey Treem's blog, Inside the Cubicle (http://insidethecubicle.blogs.com), had an interesting post about this subject today (http://insidethecubicle.blogs.com/blog/2006/11/cleaning_up_you.html). According to Treem's blog post, this myth is an actual reality. Treem notes a survey from career builder which states:

-12 % of hiring managers say they have used social networking sites in their candidate screening process
-Of those who used social networking sites to research candidates, 63% did not hire the person based on what they found

Because of this, many companies have been created with the sole purpose of keeping ones online reputation in a favorable light. Treem references a NPR article (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6462504) which highlights two of these companies, Reputation Defender (http://www.reputationdefender.com) and Naymz (http://www.naymz.com. These sites keep track of a person's online identity and and manage it so that no unwanted information is revealed.

Whether it is right or not, many social networking profiles like Myspace and Facebook are being scrutinized by potential employers and college admissions boards. And whether you are aware of it or not, your social networking profile page can serve as a self promotional tool. Obviously, many profiles promoting oneself have failed due to the 63% rate who did not hire a job candidate due to the information/pictures/etc. displayed. It is a good thing to keep in mind the next time you go to add unquestionable material to your personal profile.

What do you think? If your social networking profile was used as a promotional tool, how would you be seen by others? Should searches such as these be legally allowed? Leave your opinions in a comment!

Myspace Impact Awards

My previous opinion of banner/button ads on social networking websites was that they do not work. I was convinced that people log into their social networking site, bypass them, and do not give them a second thought. However, my opinion has been proved wrong by the last few times I have logged into Myspace.

The other day I was browsing through Myspace and looking at a few of my friends profiles. I couldn't help but notice that which each profile I visited, the top banner of the page did not change. Usually, when you click on a link in a person's profile or switch to different profiles, the banners do change. I can not tell you what the banners change to or what products they were all promoting, but subconsciously, I was aware that they changed. After much clicking the other day, the banner up top did not change which made me notice it. The banner ad was for the Myspace Impact Awards (http://www.myspace.com/impactawards) and has constantly been at the top of the Myspace website for several days.

I decided to click on the banner since it did catch my attention. It turns out that the Myspace Impact Awards are being held to showcase many of the organizations who have a Myspace profile and use the social networking site to promote their cause. Myspace users have the opportunity to vote for an individual or organization they believe should be honored. They also showcase a few of these organizations on the main page.

Myspace has created their own award in order to promote worthy individuals or organizations who are apart of the Myspace community. Through this award campaign, they hope to raise awareness and goodwill of many of these organizations.

I think the Myspace Impact Awards is a creative way to promote organizations and causes through the social networking website. First of all, it is the first of its kind to be done, so that alone will be able to draw some attention. Second off, the awards are being held by the network itself, Myspace. Being that all users have Myspace profiles, they are obviously all aware of Myspace as a company and will be more prone to checking out something hosted by Myspace than a no name site or company. Both of these reasons will lead a person to the Myspace Impact Awards homepage where they will become aware of many new causes.

What do you think? Have you heard about the Myspace Impact Awards? Has the banner at the top of the site led you to inspect the website? Have you learned of new causes because of this? Leave your answers and opinions in a comment!

Social Networking for the health conscious

Today I was looking at the TechCrunch blog (http://www.techcrunch.com) which is one of the social networking blogs I frequently visit. Their post from yesterday (http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/11/07/daily-strength-online-support-groups-and-aggregate-treatment-info/) informed me of a new health related social networking site called DailyStrength (http://www.dailystrength.org).

The main purpose of DailyStrength is for users to share their experiences and opinions about different medical or psychological treatments they have received. As far as social networking features go, the discussion function is probably the most beneficial to this particular site. However, the company hopes to add features such as chat, video, and enhanced photo sharing in the future. Another interesting fact about Daily Strength is that it has four medical doctors who are paid to post on the site and give their professional opinions to user comments. I believe that was a smart idea on their behalf to ensure that users aren't ill advised when considering a treatment.

If medicine or medical products are generally good and recommended by doctors, they can easily be promoted on Daily Strength. For example, the TechCrunch post directed me to a discussion on Lexapro (http://www.dailystrength.org/treatments/Lexapro/) which is an antidepressants used to treat depression. The Lexapro page on Daily Strength is comprised of three main parts. First off, it gives the definition and use of the medicine. Next to that, it has a chart of "Treatment Success Rate" where it lists different conditions Lexapro has been used for, the members who voted on it for that specific condition, and the success percentage for the specific condition. On the bottom it states a general consensus which states: "Overall, 48% of 64 Members find Lexapro helpful." The Lexapro page also displays comments by members who are currently using the medicine. As I previously stated, if a medicine does what it claims to do and rids the user of the problem with out any kind of bad side effects, then this site could be used as a valuable marketing tool based on consumer opinion.

What do you think? Would you use a site like Daily Strength to obtain opinions on medicine before going out and purchasing some? Leave your opinions in a comment!

Meet Yuku

My sister just recently directed me to this online community called Yuku (http://www.yuku.com). Yuku seems to be a combination of a Myspace-like social networking site and an online message board modeled after EZboard (http://www.ezboard.com).

Yuku is comprised of different online message boards of all topics, some of which include Books Galore for all the book lovers, SoapWorld for the soap opera fans, and Cooking With Spice, a message board to share recipes and beauty advice. Instead of just having a handle username, the users who post on these message boards have profiles with pictures or avatars, very similar to those of Myspace and Facebook. The user profiles tell about the person and allow them to befriend other users from the various message boards they post on.

Products are able to be promoted through Yuku in many different ways. I visited the Books Galore message board (http://1booksgalore.yuku.com/) to become more familiar with that method. The Books Galore board was comprised of many different topic forums. Some of which caught my eye were Book of the Month, and the different author and book genre forums. The Book of the Month forum can be seen as a large promotional tool. One book is showcased for one whole month which allows message board users to read and learn about it from their friends and fellow board members. Chances are, if they like what they hear about it, they will pick up the book the next time they stop by the book store. The same goes for the different author and genre forums. The user will remember a favorable assessment of a certain book discussed in those forums and pick it up the next time they are book browsing. Not only are these forums free promotion for books or whatever the topic of the board, but they are divided up into specific target audiences for the product, which makes promotion easier.

A person's individual profile on Yuku can also serve as a promotional tool. For example I clicked on a user named Michelle's profile (http://michelle.u.yuku.com/) and found a promotional online banner for a Juvenile Diabetes walk. This banner was displayed on her profile under the heading of "Important Stuff" where Michelle was urging her friends to ask her about the Juvenile Diabetes walk. This shows that users are also able to be informed of products, events, etc. via a message board friends profile.

Yuku is one of the many recent examples of promotion through word of mouth marketing on social networking sites. Many people find friend recommendations as the most influential marketing tool of all.

What do you think? Are you more swayed by opinions of friends than traditional advertisements? Leave your opinions in a comment!