Ads ignored on social networking sites

A post today (http://www.adjab.com/2006/10/17/diddytv-highlights-problems-with-ads-on-social-networks/) in the Ad Jab blog (http://www.adjab.com) discussed a recent New York Times article about advertising on social networking sites like Myspace.

Like I have discovered in previous posts while writing on this blog, the article states that the advertising done on social networks has to be relatable to that certain target market as well as valuable. It also can not be intrusive and interfere with the user's social networking experience. The article also claims that the majority of advertisements on social networking sites are ignored which means that promotional dollars are being wasted. The author of the article seems to think that the most influential product recommendations come from peers.

If this is true, this leads me to believe that types of promotional activities centered around consumer recommendations, such as the political video contest sponsored by Friendster and Sharkle from my previous post, are useful and successful promotional tools. If companies make their promotions creative and consumer oriented, they will succeed on social networking sites.