Article By: Sabrina Tabarovsky (Sabrina@aclion.com)
Original Source: NY-Times article MySpace Might Have Friends, but It Wants Ad Money

While MySpace, the social networking site, is flourishing as there are 118 million friends this growth has not translated into revenue from advertising. Google who has a 900 million dollar contract with MySpace is not as enthusiastic as it was August 2006 when the pact was finalized. Fox Interactive Media, the parent company for MySpace has announced it will not meet its 1 billion dollar goal for this year. Yet, amidst the pessimism and confusion some are still optimistic. Lehman Brothers’ Anthony DiClemente and Jeff Berman, president of sales and marketing for MySpace note that revenue for the company has been increasing from year to year. Berman, highlights this by stating “We’re seeing the dollars come in.”

MySpace seems like an ideal network for ads because of the high traffic, yet advertising in this space is more difficult and is a new terrain for companies to maneuver. Thus, MySpace is working on smarter advertising to assure the ads reach the right audience and that people will stop and pay attention. To accomplish these not so easy tasks MySpace has begun using hypertargeting that places people in groups based on interests so ads that match the user can be presented to them. MySpace is also cleaning up their act by streamlining their homepage to make it easier to spot the ads and draw attention to them. These changes are a step in the right direction but the future of advertising on social networking sites is still uncertain.

Mr. Berman notes that page ad displays are available on the homepage, which are able to reach approximately 40 million people daily. Yet, as noted by their missing their target this year it is not just how many users visit the site that is important. The right users at the right time need to view these ads. It really is not an accomplishment if 50 million men are exposed to a Tampax ad. Facebook is taking a step in the right direction

(one that MySpace should follow) by using social ads. Social ads integrate themselves fully into the social networking process and demonstrate an understanding of the space. Users would first identify themselves as a user or fan of a product or service. Afterwards, ads noting that you are friends with a fan of x, y, or z will be sent to the users’ friends. Social ads are wonderful as they are using psychological principles to attract people. One is publicly committing oneself to a product and fulfilling their need for belonging and interactions with others at the same time. When one makes a public commitment one is more likely to follow through with the action. Peer pressure principles can also apply here as the ad telling you your friend is a fan is saying come on everybody is doing it! MySpace and other social networks need to realize this is a whole new game and they need to find ways to translate their high user numbers into revenue. To accomplish this task the ads need to reach the right people and ads need to be formatted to fit this new environment. If this is accomplished I predict high revenue for MySpace and other social networking sites in the future.

Sabrina Tabarovsky | AC Lion

Article By: Joshua Russak (Red@aclion.com)

Everywhere I look, everyone is saying the same thing: LinkedIn raises $53 million in VC funding...and that's great to know. This is their 4th round of VC Funding and THEIR LARGEST! According to the reliable blog-source "Alley Insider", in the article LinkedIn CEO: Yep, We Want To Go Public they are considering going public in the near future! This is all great news for LinkedIn. ...But what about the fact it was down this morning? Maybe it was our computers, but for a company valued at about $1Billion, there's no excuses.

Anyways, the point here is, if this company goes public, I'm curious to see who's willing to invest. This is a company to keep your eye on in the coming months. "While its traffic is far below the two social-networking leaders, LinkedIn is seeing strong growth. April traffic was up more than 360% from the same period last year, compared with a 56% gain at Facebook and only 3% in gains at MySpace, according to Nielsen data." (source)

The company's revenue model depends on advertising, subscriptions, job listings and providing recruitment services (though, in all fairness, I do not recommend them for the smaller recruitment agencies). The company said it is in the process of launching "several new lines of business", and though I'm not sure that is, I can bet my money that widgets and mobile will play a key factor there.

...oh, and I'm proud to say I've successfully signed on to LinkedIn at this point! Check out my profile here. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to accept some more "business contacts".

Article By: Dan Goldsmith (Dan@aclion.com)

As has been well documented this past year one of the more prolific beneficiaries of the Facebook phenomenon has been the world of non-profit fund raising and mission awareness. I can join a group in support of the cause of my choice and even solicit my friends to donate to such a cause. Many of us took advantage of our own little personal reach by posting supportive "buttons" for our recent favorite Presidential Candidates as well as Comic PM Political Commentators Steward and Colbert.

However I was struck by a recent awareness campaign's viral dynamic and its personal impact. Last week I noticed a few of my friends had changed their profile pictures - no big deal. However what was odd was that more and more of my friends had been changing their photos to the SAME image. The picture a facial close up of a young male supported by a statement "I am waiting for Gilad". It was an amature image - almost as simple a pic as you or I could take of our buddy or our brother. Just a simple pic - no airbrush - no carved muscular body - no facial expression suggesting we do something or buy something. I was a bit fuzzy, over exposed and not particularly attractive. I asked a few friends asking what the deal was with all of them changing to to the same profile pic. I was told the the simple face was that of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, one of the eight kidnapped Israeli soldiers who are still missing.

The group has attracted close to 47,000 members, who agreed to switch their status on Facebook from broadcasting their current mood or the details of their latest meal to a more passionate tone of how they felt about Shalit's continued abduction.

I too joined and posted and within hours was getting inquiries about the pic and so too did the virality go. More and more the world of new media tries to define the right look and the right distribution strategy and metrics etc etc etc. For all I know this was a targeted campaign run by a tidy and aggressive interactive strategy shop who has just notched up another "win". My guess is that this is not a formed strategy but a simple plea supported by a simple photo.

The only word that comes to me right now is "pure" - the face is pure as is the statement "waiting" for him is a silent but very powerful one. We are waiting for his return as we EXPECT it should happen. This simplicity of this campaign supported by a simple image moved me as well as did it display great velocity.

So I guess simple User Generated Content has significant power at times, no?

Article By: Joshua 'The Red' Russak (Red@aclion.com)

I recently attended NYTechMeetup and had the pleasure of meeting Mike Davis, co-founder of a rather interesting and noteworthy mobile social network, MeetNowLive. Hands down, one of the coolest and most attractive mobile based social network I've seen so far. Leave it to Mike to make something this Hot! Check out their "Free Beer Friday's" promotions on their site, among some basic about and contact information...but that's it! They'll have some account features and bar listings pretty soon, but it's strictly for mobile devices. "Meet Now Live is a real-time, location based, mobile social network in and around New York City. Our members use their mobile phones to broadcast their current location as they party in the city." Mike Davis took the time to write up a little blurb about who they are and what they do...read it below. Let us know what you think!

Meet Now Live (MNL) is a pioneering location-based, mobile social-networking service connecting young professional urbanites in their quest for real-time bar, event, and nightlife information in New York City and surrounding areas. Launched in April 2008, the service is available on any cell phone or mobile device with internet access. With 2,000 bars, clubs, lounges, and restaurants in its network, MNL is the only service of its kind to allow users to broadcast their location from their favorite place of interest and invite other users to join. MNL is a free, “device agnostic,” mobile service where users can create profiles, send messages, friend one another, upload pictures, create personalized location-specific events, and plan their night on-the-fly, based on the location of their friends. Now anyone can view real pictures of real people at bars, clubs, lounges, parties, and restaurants without ever stepping foot inside. Beta Launch: During this launch period which lasts until Labor Day weekend, MNL has joined forces with The Town Tavern, Whistling Dixies Texas Tavern, and Porky’s NYC to offer “Free Beer Fridays!”. When users “broadcast” their location from these bars, encouraging friends and other MNL users to join them, the MNL system delivers an on-screen mobile ticket that grants them the right to unlimited free draft beers. Mike Davis | Co-Founder Meet Now Live, Inc. www.MEETNOWLIVE.com

Article By: Joshua 'The Red' Russak (Red@aclion.com)

Well, it's no surprise that my attention has been diverted from Video to Social Networks this week...well, sort of. This weeks article was inspired by me literally stumbling on Mashable.com...

"Bubble Comment"! No it's not XXX...nor is it a Bazooka Gum rating site! Bubble Comment is fully owned and operated by kShermanStudios LLC., a privately held group located in Sausalito, CA., and is part of the Bubble suite of video services which include:

	Bubble Guru A subscription based video service that enables you to directly engage your web site visitors and improve web-based communications.
	Bubble Testimonial A subscription based testimonial service that eliminates all the time-consuming aspects of gathering, organizing, and posting of customer testimonials.
	Bubble Joy A free service that allows you to send richly interactive video greeting cards to all your friends and family.
	Bubble Comment A free service that enables you to share personal video comments with others on virtually any web page.

You won't find BubbleComment advertised on kShermanStudio's main site just yet. Simply put, it does the simple but effective task of allowing you distribute a page to a circle of contacts along with personal video recording. It's an easy 3-step process and can't get any easier than plugging in a VCR (unless you're a tech-tard...

...anyways, what is attractive about this product? Why would anyone take the time to do all of this when the old way of commenting works just fine for the amount of time it takes (less than 30 seconds)? Well, for one there's no sign-in requirements No sign-in is required. Just two basic steps, and you’re done. It's for video enthusiasts who really want to get their point across.

Give it a shot...you have nothing to lose except for your self dignity!