Social Networking

Final Post

2006-12-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-29T11:26:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-27T10:47:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-13T11:08:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-08T10:59:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-06T11:07:00.000-08:00

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!

Facebook shares

2006-11-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

Earlier today, I came across the Cybersoc blog (http://www.cybersoc.com) by Robin Hamman. Robin’s blog post from today (http://www.cybersoc.com/2006/11/facebook_lets_c.html) was about a new Facebook feature called “share” (http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=2215537130).

Facebook has partnered with different websites in the categories of news, gaming, sports, and entertainment. Their respective partners are as follows:

· News: New York Times, WashingtonPost.com, Wall Street Journal Online
· Gaming:GameSpot.com and IDG Entertainment
· Sports: SI.com and NBCSports.com
· Entertainment: PhotoBucket, StupidVideos.com and The Onion

Facebook’s new share feature enables facebook users to display content from any of these websites on their profile pages. These websites contain certain code that lets facebook members share the information on their individual pages.

By partnering up with these websites, Facebook is promoting all of them. Not only is facebook as a company promoting the certain sites, but so are the facebook users who participate by using the share function. For example, a facebook user who wants to post an interesting news article on their profile can be promoting washingtonpost.com as well as the tangible newspaper. The facebook user’s friend who spots the article from the profile may also enjoy it and begin to frequent the website more often. Or, if they live in Washington, they may become a subscriber. I think that this new feature will benefit in promoting facebook’s partners because of the personal friend to friend connection. It is not a social networking website trying to promote a certain company, but a friend sharing information.

What do you think? Would you be more persuaded to see or try something new coming from a profile page of a friend?

GroupRecipes for the cooking lovers

2006-10-30T11:33:00.000-08:00

Technorati just recently directed me to the SlashFood blog (http://www.slashfood.com) where they had a blog post (http://www.slashfood.com/2006/10/30/grouprecipes-a-new-social-site-for-foodies/) about a social networking food website called GroupRecipes.

GroupRecipes (http://www.grouprecipes.com) was a website created for cooking fans to share their recipes. The social networking elements of this site include writing your own recipes, reading recipes of others, rating recipes, and building your own profile which allows communication between fellow cooking lovers. All recipes are also classified under a tagging system which enables recipes to be found by categories and flavors.

First and foremost, this website promotes personal recipes of people all over the world. Although, the recipe owners are not receiving compensation when their recipe is used or viewed, the fact that it is up on the internet with a rating publicizes it to some extent.

I was curious as to whether GroupRecipes promoted more than strictly recipes, so I went on over to the site to take a look. While browsing a few recipes, I came across a recipe for Sausage Pinwheels (http://www.grouprecipes.com/113/sausage-pinwheels.html). The ingredients for sausage pinwheels are listed as follows:

1 pound of Bob Evans or Owens® Original Recipe Sausage Roll
2 cups biscuit mix
1/4 cup melted margarine or butter
1/2 cup milk

As I suspected, individual brands of food such as the Bob Evans or Owens Original Recipe Sausage Roll, are also being promoted through these recipes. I think companies that sell a lot of baking ingredients can greatly benefit from a website like this. Most people, when cooking something they have never attempted before, will follow the recipe exactly which means they will buy the suggested brands of ingredients.

What do you think? If you are a cooking buff, would a social networking website like GroupRecipes encourage you to buy specific brand name ingredient products? Leave your opinions in a comment!

iLike- Free promotion for independent musicians

2006-10-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

While reading the TechCrunch (http://www.techcrunch) blog today (http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/10/24/ilike-brings-free-indy-music-to-itunes-recommendations/), I was informed about a new iTunes plugin called iLike.

iLike (http://www.ilike.com) will be launched tomorrow. The program will supply music fans from music by indie artists at GarageBand.Com (http://www.garageband.com). Unlike iTunes, iLike is a free service and does not charge for songs. iLike will also display social networking features such as distributing music recommendations to friends, and Myspace-esque options like having the ability to make your profile private as well as seeing which of your friends are online or offline at a given time.

On the contrary to major label artists, independent musicians share their songs on the internet for free. The obvious conclusion for this is promotion. Although the independent artists are not making money everytime someone listens to one of their songs, they are building a fanbase which could lead them to money in the future. iLike will allow their music to be promoted to music fans all over the world through one site. iLike's social networking feature that allows music recommendations to be exchanged between friends will only help strengthen an independent artist's promotion.

What do you think? Would you use iLike to become aware of new music artists? Have you ever listened to an independent artist's music online that you are now a fan of? Leave your opinions in a comment!

Can promotion through social networking sites go too far?

2006-10-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

While writing this blog, it had never occurred to me that promotion through social networking sites wasn't necessarily a positive promotional tool until today. Technorati directed me to to the Webloggin' blog (http://www.webloggin.com) on politics, media, and culture. Their post from today (http://www.webloggin.com/scary-peace-people-iii/) caused me to think about things from different angles.

Apparently, a 14 year old girl named Julia Wilson had created a Myspace page called "People who want to stab Bush". She was using the social networking site to bring together others who have ill feelings toward the US president, George W. Bush. Julia decorated her Myspace page in very vivid ways to say the least. Webloggin describes the layout the best by stating "Beneath the words “Kill Bush,” Julia posted a cartoonish photo-collage of a knife stabbing the hand of the president.

Most people wouldn't take an anti-Bush website made by a 14 year old girl so seriously, but the Myspace page was promoted enough to catch the eye of the secret service. Last Wednesday, two secret service agents arrived at Julia's high school where she was pulled out of class to be questioned about her motives toward the president. It is evident that promotion, even if it is not positive promotion, does work on social networking sites.

What do you think? Have you ever encountered a negative promotional page on any social networking sites? Did it work? Should it be allowed? Share your opinions in a comment!

Ads ignored on social networking sites

2006-10-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

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.

Friendster comes out of the wood work

2006-10-16T12:16:00.000-07:00

The Adrant (http://www.adrants.com) blog posted some recent news today (http://www.adrants.com/2006/10/friendster-sharkle-get-political-with-vid.php) about Friendster.

Friendster (http://www.friendster.com) has decided to jump on the political bandwagon like many other social networking sites lately. They are partnering up with the video sharing social networking site, Sharkle (http://www.sharkle.com) to put on a "Political Video Contest" (http://friendster.sharkle.com) where Friendster members can upload videos in support of their favorite candidates.

Six videos will win a a number of prizes including $2,500 in cash, a $1,000 Sony video camera, and four $300 video iPods.

These videos of political expression will not only bring more traffic to both Friendster and Sharkle, but will promote the candidates that are spoken of. A strong video is able to encourage an undecided viewer to vote for a particular candidate. Companies such as Sony and Apple are also able to be promoted from this joint venture by being publicized as prizes.

What do you think? Would a convincing opinion video work as a strong promotional tool to sway you to vote for a certain candidate? Leave your opinion in a comment!

I'd like to introduce you to Qloud

2006-10-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

The social networking blog Mashable (http://www.mashable.com) always seem to have posts that catch my interest. I just came across a post of theirs from yesterday (http://mashable.com/2006/10/10/qloud-launches-music-search-meets-social-networking/) about a new social networking music site named Qloud.

Not only is Qloud (http://www.qloud.com) a social networking site, but it is also a plugin for iTunes. Qloud allows music fans to search for artists, songs, genres, etc where they can either link to the page or buy the song from an individual online music store. It also relays information about individual songs such as number of plays, ratings, and tags. Users are also able to visit profile pages of friends where they will be able to see what music they have been listening to.

To me it seems that the social features of Qloud (the ratings, tags, plays, friend pages) are helping to promote individual songs or artists. These features allow users to see what bands/artists/songs are popular among their friends as well as in general. If they respect the opinions of other music fans as well as their friends through Qloud, it may lead to album or song purchases. This nonthreatening, conversational promotion style has the potential to be very effective.

What do you think? Would joining a site like Qloud open up your perspective to music and cause you to possibly purchase more music from different types of artists? Leave your opinion in a comment!

Talk to Jesus

2006-10-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

I was directed to an extremely interesting blog post today while searching technorati. It is probably one of the most unique promotional activities I have ever come across.

The Titusonenine blog (http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/?p=15577) made a post today about an advertising campaign to market Jesus to youths. The campaign is being backed by the ecumenical charity Churches Advertising Network who hope to increase the youth presence in church during the holidays. In order to make a connection with young people, the network has created a Myspace page for Jesus (www.myspace.com/isthisjesus).

Jesus' Myspace page was visited by over 8,000 people in the first week it was created. The page is setup in a way that is very relatable to the youth market. He now has 819 friends who comment on his page quite frequently. Most of the comments he receives are along these lines:

"JESUS!! hello...............love ya! xxx "

"Jesus is my
homeboy! "

"HELLO JESUS what does heaven look like some day i hope 2 go there tty
sometime bye jesus i <3>

I think that creating a Myspace page for Jesus was a very clever promotional activity on behalf of the ecumenical charity Churches Advertising Network. It is clear from Jesus' friends comments that he is still loved and respected by the youth age group, but that still doesn't mean that they attend church regularly. Having this connection with Jesus through a new, technological trend may help to remind youths of Jesus and their faith. With that being said, this innovative strategy just may increase youth attendance in church over the holidays.

What do you think? Would you be more inclined to attend church if you were reminded of your faith on a more regular basis through everyday activities such as this one? Leave your opinions in a comment!

Paper Magazine teams up with Myspace

2006-10-05T14:32:00.000-07:00

Starting this blog has caused me to pay more attention to my own social network sites. Earlier today I logged into Myspace (http://www.myspace.com). On the Myspace homepage I saw that they were promoting a contest for Paper Magazine as one of their features. I clicked on the link to read more about the contest, and I was directed to the official Myspace page of Paper Magazine (http://www.myspace.com/papermagazine).

The contest is titled, "Paper's Un-Hollywood Digital Film Contest". The competition part consists of digital video camera submissions. Whatever person submits the best unprofessional digital film wins $500 in cash and prizes, coverage in Paper Magazine, and screening of the winning video at the Un-Hollywood Digital Film Festival held in NYC.

I then scrolled down to the rules section which I thought was very interesting. Rule number one stated that entrants had to be Myspace members. Rule number two explained how to submit the video which involved using Viral Videos, the Myspace video software.

Although Myspace as a social networking site is promoting Paper Magazine and their contest (which was probably a good idea on Paper's part because to be honest I had never heard of the magazine before seeing the feature on Myspace), it seems like they have also done a good job involving their network in the contest for possible site promotion. First of all, the explanation to the contest is available on their own Myspace page. People have to connect to Myspace in some way, shape, or form to read about the contest. Also, as rule number one states, you have to be a Myspace member in order to enter (not that it has anything to do with being able to shoot a good video, but it's part of the rules). Uploading of the video submission also takes place through the Myspace network to ensure membership. Even though Myspace is not an official sponsor of the contest, they have made it a point to increase membership from promoting Paper Magazine (http://www.papermag.com) and their contest on the site.

What do you think? Was it fair of Myspace to involve themselves in Paper Magazine's contest after they promoted them on their site?

Faketown

2006-10-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today I came across the MoMB blog, or Museum of Modern Betas. (http://momb.socio-kybernetics.net/). In their latest blog post (http://momb.socio-kybernetics.net/beta/faketown), the MoMB informed me of a combined social networking site called Faketown (http://www.faketown.com/). Faketown is a blend of a social networking site and an internet game. In Faketown, players can create characters and avatars to symbolize themselves in order to interact with other players to buy, sell, and trade “virtual products”.

This got me thinking. Even though the products are being exchanged virtually as opposed to real life auction sites like eBay, are they still conversing about real life products? I decided to head on over to the Faketown website and search for my answer. I am aware that the only way to get the full scoop on this site would be to sign up for the game, but some observations on the home page led me to believe real products are being talked about in this fake town as well as made up products.

For example, the main site has a section called “Featured Creations”. Some of the feature creations listed include Apple, PC, and an iPod (all real products). This brought me to the conclusion that the real life products involved in this game are all benefiting from word of mouth promotion. Although the basis of the game is make believe, it still involves real people chatting about real products. People who do use these products take their experiences with them from real life and share them with others playing the game. Opinions of others are likely to promote products and lead another person to a purchase decision.

What do you think? Do you feel that other people’s opinions about a product are more effective than regular advertising? Do you think the unconscious word of mouth promotion in this game will be beneficial to some companies? Leave your opinions in a comment!

There's Proof. Promotion on social networking sites is working

2006-09-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, I came across a marketing website called eMarketer (http://www.emarketer.com). eMarketer directed me toward an article (http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1004185) about the link between social networking and social shopping. Apparently, marketers now have proof that promotion of social shopping sites on social networking sites has been successful.

Hitwise (http://www.hitwise.com) is a website that tracks online marketing trends. Recently, Hitwise has reported that Google (16.94%), Yahoo (5.40%), and MSN (2.8%) are the top three search engines used before visiting social shopping websites. Hitwise also found that Myspace generated much activity to social shopping sites with 2.53%, almost as much as search engine MSN. If ranked in the list of search engines, Myspace would have ranked fourth, above Ask, AOL, Dogpile, and all of the others. Myspace has helped bring large amounts of traffic to websites such as Craigslist, eBay, Amazon, and Gateway.

The Myspace percentage being comparable to those of the top search engines shows that promotion of shopping sites on social networking sites has been successful. People pay attention to ads on Myspace as much as they do on MSN. Online retailers are now being encouraged to advertise themselves on social networking sites for additional flows of traffic.

What do you think? Are you surprised that ads on social networking sites are as effective as on search engines? Have you ever been led to an online retailer site from a social networking community? Leave your opinions in a comment!

YouTube's Multi Faceted Promotion Plan

2006-09-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

I just got done browsing one of my favorite social networking blogs, Mashable (http://www.mashable.com), which informed me of YouTube's new feature, YouTube Underground (http://mashable.com/2006/09/23/this-week-in-social-networking-youtube-facebook-and-the-myspace-economy/). Through this new page, YouTube (http://www.youtube.com), a popular social networking video website, is going to host a battle of the bands contest sponsored by Cingular. Wanting to learn more about the contests, I clicked on a link which led me to another Mashable post (http://mashable.com/2006/09/20/youtube-underground-launches/) about YouTube Underground (http://www.youtube.com/underground) from a few days ago.

This blog post stated that YouTube has not only partnered up with Cingular to put on this contest, but also with ABC. Unsigned bands have a two week period in order to submit video performances which will be voted on by YouTube users. There will be four grand prize winners who will win a slew of prizes consisting of:

The band's video shown on Cingular phones
The band featured on the television show Chop Shop
Equipment from Gibson
A trip to NYC which includes a VIP tour bus, a photoshoot, and an appearance on Good Morning America
The band's video featured on the YouTube homepage

In my opinion, not only will this new YouTube contest promote an unsigned band to gain worldwide recognition, it also has the potential to promote many other companies. Two companies that could very well benefit from this contest are the sponsors, Cingular and ABC. The contest will promote these two companies in the music scene from their name involvement as well as the prizes they are contributing such as the Cingular phones and TV show Good Morning America. Others who are able to gain a little publicity from the contest are prize contributors Gibson and the TV show Chop Shop. By joining forces, all companies are able to help promote eachother which seems like a smart move to me.

What do you think? Are joint ventures such as this one beneficial in order to promote old products in new ways? Leave your opinion in a comment!

Social Networking on Mobile Devices?

2006-09-20T14:59:00.000-07:00

Today I found a fun blog about interactive advertising called Adotas (http://www.adotas.com). Adotas just recently published an interesting blog post (http://www.adotas.com/2006/09/earthcomber-wins-patent-for-permission-based-mobile-search/) about social networking on mobile devices. Apparently Earthcomber (http://www.earthcomber.com) has received a patent to incorporate a social networking device in mobile phones. This social networking device will have the ability to alert the mobile phone carrier of people, places, and things in close proximity to them that match their personal preferences. It will also be able to send advertisements to the phone carriers, but only if they grant permission to receive them.

I think Earthcomber has come up with a pretty cool concept. A device such as this one would be helpful on a phone, especially if one was in an unfamiliar area. In that kind of situation it would be convenient to be informed of hotels, restaurants, and shops nearby. However, the sole concept of this device would be to promote, places, products, and even people. I think the question of whether or not the promotion will be successful will depend upon how attached people become to this new system on their phone. If they become dependent on it and go to the first restaurant, shop, hotel, etc. it suggests, then it will become incredibly successful. However

if they choose to explore, then promotional dollars will have been wasted.

What is your opinion on the new device? Would you use it? Do you think it serves as a good promotional tool? Leave your opinions in a comment!

Facebook gets political

2006-09-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

While searching for social networking blogs, I came across a political blog called Left in the West, Views from Dry Land Democrats (http://leftinthewest.com). The post (http://leftinthewest.com/index.php/2006/09/15/among-students-tester-in-a-walk/) I was linked to focused on Facebook's (http://www.facebook.com) role in the upcoming Senate race in Montana.

Apparently, Facebook has added a new feature for election purposes. Through this feature, students are able to share their thoughts and opinions on political candidates. Students from Montana have been actively utilyzing this new feature (http://montana.faceb ook.com/election_pulse.php) which has caused many involved to head on over to Facebook and take note of what the college students have to say.

Unaware of this new feature, I decided to head on over to Facebook to familiarize myself with it. I arrived at the page titled the Election Pulse which lists senate races in numerous states along with polls voted on by college student facebook members. Each candidate's name is represented with a link. Curious as to where the link went, I clicked on candidate Tom Kean's name from my home state of New Jersey. To my surprise, I was directed to a facebook profile of Tom. His profile was comprised of basic personal information, photos, notes, and bulletins of support from facebook members. Tom, along with many other candidates who are running for senate at the present time, have created facebook profiles as a promotional tool to market themselves to college students in hopes of gaining their support for election time.

Personally, I think that was a pretty genious idea on the part of the candidate's PR team. The majority of college students today are apart of the Facebook world. Interacting with them directly through this social networking site will most likely significantly contribute to their campaigns. Using Facebook as a promotional tool has proven to be incredibly successful due to the large number of students who have been participating through the Election Pulse as well as visiting the candidate's individual pages.

Do you think Facebook is serving as a beneficial promotional tool for political candidates? Leave a comment stating your opinion!

Primetime turns to social networking sites to promote fall shows

2006-09-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I was poking around the internet for entertainment news and gossip. (One of my favorite pasttimes :) ) I came across this website, Entertainment News. Org (http://www.entertainment-news.org) where I found an interesting article (http://www.entertainment-news.org/breaking/54831/networks-log-on-to-networking-sites-for-fall-promo.html) about how primetime television has turned to social networking sites to promote their new, fall shows. NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX have all jumped on the chance to execute this new type of promotion.

For many shows, the networks have partnered up with various social networking sites who will be displaying banners or sneak preview video clips of season premieres. The article states that apparently two out of three people log onto some type of social network site when they go online, so the banners and clips are sure to get some extra attention. However, I believe the shows that have taken the extra creative step to integrate interaction between the internet user, the show, and the social networking site will benefit more from this type of promotion.

For example, for its teen drama series, Friday Night Lights, NBC partnered with teenage social networking site, Bebo (http://www.bebo.com). The two companies worked together to develop a contest where a teen will have the shot at winning $50,000 for their school. Another is example is a Myspace page NBC has created for its hit tv show, My Name is Earl (http://www.myspace.com/mynameisearltvshow). The page was specifically created for the main character of the show which gives fans a direct link to interact with him. Since it is officially connected to the show, the page will also feature sneak previews, activites, contests, etc.

While the promotional banners and video clips on social networking sites are great, I believe the shows that combined actual user interaction to their show through the networking site will be more successful. The promotional banners and videos are easier to be passed by due to its similarities to traditional advertising (billboards and commercials). If a person participates in some sort of internet interaction they will be more likely to remember the show as well as gain more excitement about it.

Do you agree or disagree? Post a comment and state your opinion!

Deception still sells on Myspace?

2006-09-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

Earlier this morning, my professor, Kim Gregson (check out her site here http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/kgregson) suggested that I visit the social networking blog, Mashable (http://www.mashable.com). While browsing around the blog, I stumbled across a few posts about this "lonelygurl15" who was coincidentally brought up in my marketing class today as well. I learned that marketers have been very interested in lonelygurl and her myspace page. Apparently the random YouTube (http://www.youtube.com a website where internet users are able to construct their own internet videos) videos she had been posting led marketers to believe it was all a marketing plan due to their professional feel.

Wanting to learn more, I anxiously read a few recent posts about lonelygurl15 and her possible trickery at Mashable. Through this post (http://mashable.com/2006/09/08/youtubes-lonelygirl15-a-fake/) I learned that lonelygurl, whose name happens to be "Bree", has been busted! It turns out that the marketers' skepticism was right. Bree (who now is not Bree at all, but a 19 year old actress based out of Beverly Hills) has been deceiving the public and her Myspace "friends" by posing as a 16 year old homeschooled girl who makes YouTube videos from her bedroom. There has even been some talk suggesting that the videos are being made to promote a possible upcoming horror film.

After reading that blog, I took it upon myself to visit lonelygurl/Bree/19 year old actress/ whatever you want to call her's Myspace page ( http://www.myspace.com/lonelygurl15) which at first glance does look like a typical teenage Myspace profile. The normalties stopped as I scrolled down to her friends section where I found that she had 6,748 friends! Now in my Myspace experience, unless you are a popular band or music artist, that is quite a lot of friends to have. What surprised me even more were some of the comments left by a few of her 6,748 friends. Some of which include the following:

"Hey Bree:You're ALL OVER THE NEWS! Look, whether you're an actress or this
is the real deal, I've enjoyed your vids."

"Keep doing what you're doing, it's genious. It's so addicting, I just
can't compliment you and those involved enough. Over half a million views in the
least for each video, it's huge! Props! Props! Props!"

"You know what I dont care your a fake I'll keep watching if you keep
making them coz there the best soap ive seen in a long time:)

So apparently, even though they all have been conned, Bree's friends still want to see more of her videos which most likely means that if they are promos for a movie, the promotion method was successful. I personally am not sure whether or not I would go and see that movie, however I would be skeptical of it seeing as the promotion was done so deceptively.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? If this all was a coax in order to promote a movie, do you have issues with the way it has been handled? Now that the secret is out, would you still go to see the movie?

Thoughts, questions, and comments are always appreciated!

Welcome!

2006-09-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog on social networking! For the next ten weeks this is where I will be commenting and reflecting on the topic of social networking and its role in promoting products.

As many of you are aware, the purpose of social networking websites are to facilitate communication and exchanges among people. A few of the more popular sites include Myspace (http://www.myspace.com), Facebook (http://www.facebook.com), and Friendster (http://www.friendster.com). These sites are often frequented by teens and young adults and many times are the first sites accessed when logging onto the web. I must admit, I do fall into this category which is one of the reasons why I chose to blog on this topic. Not to mention the recent talk around campus about how "facebook has just turned creepy" due to its new news feed feature, but that's a whole other story.

Does social networking play a large part in promoting products? Has it worked on me, my friends, or acquaintances? Is it intrusive or subtle? Are new trends emerging specifically with the intent of promoting on social network websites? These are some of the concerns I hope to explore in this blog.