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...