Internet Marketing Course BLOG

Annoyed with the ad deluge on social networks, many users are spending less time on the sites
BusinessWeek
February 7, 2008

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): Has the next big thing in online advertising already come and gone, or are the social networking “monetizers” trying so hard to equate unique visitors and time-on-site to advertising dollars that they’re killing the golden goose? Time will tell, but here’s an interesting and not often seen perspective from BusinessWeek on the recent ad-ventures of MySpace and Facebook.

“If you want to socialize with Chris Heritage, you won’t find him on Facebook. The 27-year-old Port St. Lucie (Fla.) business analyst joined the social network last year after his buddies bugged him to get an account. But he soon became fed up with the avalanche of ads, especially those detailing what his friends were buying, and he quit the site in November. Now, Heritage expresses himself through a blog, happy to pay $6 a month to publish on a promo-free Web site. “It’s worth it to not have to look at the ads,” he says.

Uh-oh. Social networking was supposed to be the Next Big Thing on the Internet. MySpace, Facebook, and other sites have been attracting millions of new users, building sprawling sites that companies are banking on to trigger an online advertising boom. Trouble is, the boom isn’t booming anymore. Like Heritage, many people are spending less time on social networking sites or signing off altogether.”

Read the entire article at:

Generation MySpace Is Getting Fed Up

Technorati Tags:Business, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing

Link to: Internet Marketing Course

From: eMarketer
February 5, 2008

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): What the heck is a Web widget and how are they being used? EXACTLY the questions many Web marketers are asking about Web widgets. This eMarketer article does a nice job of framing the marketing potential for this application, and I found a Wikipedia entry on “Web Widgets” that’s a painless technical overview. I’d start with the Wikipedia write-up and then read the eMarketer article. And if you’re looking for a Web Widget example, take a look at the Google ads serving along the right side of this blog – yep, it’s a Widget!

“What the heck is a widget, or what is sometimes called a gadget, badge, module, capsule, snippet, plug-in, mini or flake? Widgets are basically embedded code in an HTML page. And whatever you call them, they are popping up all over the Internet.

Since Facebook opened up to third-party applications in May 2007, nearly 15,000 applications have been developed. Overall, some 100,000 developers are working on widgets and applications worldwide.

All the excitement aside, eMarketer estimates that US companies will spend only $40 million in 2008 to create, promote and distribute widgets, up from $15 million in 2007.”

Read the entire eMarketer article at:

What Can Widgets Do?

Technorati Tags:Business, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing

Link to: Internet Marketing Course