Classmates
Nielsen: Facebook Led 2009 Social Media Traffic Growth In The US And Abroad
INSIDE FACEBOOK — Nielsen is the latest web measurement company to release a review of social networking traffic in 2009, and most of the results aren’t too surprising: Both the number of users to social networking sites and the amount of time they spent increased substantially, with Facebook leading the way. Here’s our quick take...
For Moms, Offline Friends Still Wield Heavy Brand Influence
ADVERTISING AGE — Technology's influence is widely assumed to have morphed the over-the-fence backyard chat into mommy blogs and Twitter networks. But when moms are seeking product advice, it's not all social-media all the time. A study due out next week from the Parenting Group found that while moms are avid web and social-media users, they still turn to family and friends first, whether by phone, e-mail or in-person, when making decisions about product purchases...
Paid Social Network Opportunities—Alive And Well
EMARKETER — While mainstream social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have always been free to users, paid social network content models are alive and well. Networks that cater to market niches have particularly thrived on hybrids of paid models and ad-based systems. Some of these, such as LinkedIn, Classmates.com and MyLife.com, are earning at least as much revenue from fee-based content and services as from advertising...
Social Media's Clumsy Ad Model Needs New Moves
MEDIAWEEK — Social media advertising has stumbled in its current form, and needs new choreography. That’s the blunt message that media consultancy Media Link has for MySpace. Media Link has been advising MySpace since August, following a major executive shakeup at the troubled News Corp. unit. That message might as well be aimed at the entire social media landscape, which generates a disproportionate amount of ad impressions but commands such low prices that some in the industry even speculate it could hinder an expected online advertising recovery. Media Link president Wenda Harris Millard, who’s been directly advising MySpace, said that the site may require a dramatically different approach to advertising—including reducing the amount of ad inventory it serves...
Hitwise: Facebook Makes Gains In U.S.
Facebook users just don't seem to be as young as they used to be. And they're going to the social-networking site a lot more often. A new report from traffic tracker Hitwise shows that U.S. visits to Facebook grew 149 percent in February compared with the same month a year earlier. That pushed Facebook's market share among folks in the United States visiting social-networking Web sites to 36 percent last month, versus 14 percent in February 2008...
