This Facebook Thing.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I just don't see how it can remain a growing cash cow over the long term.  I mean, what's its product?  Friendship?

Advertising?  I saw a poll this morning on one of the cable talking heads shows; only 17% of Facebook users actually utilize the banner ads and links for products.  That's not enough.  And if they try to push more adverts on people, people will tune out;  they want to see each others' retarded kids' pics, not links to Amazon.

Their user base is 900 million and like half of that logs on every day. 17% of that is 75-80 million people. That's a lot.

Only Facebook knows how much is generated from that though. How can you put a dollar value on that?

[katmai]

I've also noticed that facebook is now starting to get as bad as myspace for me on the front that I'm getting lots of spam facebook invites.

Stop being such a friend whore.

[Jacob]

I find it hard to believe too, but there are people who pay for those crappy games and other apps on Facebook.

Oh yeah. Lots of money in that. At least for the time being.

[garbon]

I've also noticed that facebook is now starting to get as bad as myspace for me on the front that I'm getting lots of spam facebook invites.

Stop being such a friend whore.

I'm being the opposite as I'm not accepting.

[Martinus]

I think Facebook (or something similar) is the future, but frankly I don't see how online advertising is something companies buy anymore - when was the last time you actually followed a link in an online ad? Now, there is something to be said about brand awareness and all that but with the sheer quantity of this going on, I can't see how different brand's adds just not cancel each other out, effectively. It seems to me companies buy it because everyone is doing it and you they can't allow an "online ad gap!!!" but I fail to see how the current model is bringing in the results.

[Jacob]

Online advertising is vastly superior to most other types of advertising, in that you have a much greater ability to target who you reach compared to TV or print advertising. You also have a much better idea of the reach of your campaign as well; you can tell whether people engage with your add, and who they are.

In addition, in many cases you're not paying for your add to be distributed (as in print or broadcast advertising), but for the traffic you actually get. So from the perspective of someone spending an advertising budget, online campaigns have a lot to recommend them.

[Syt]

I have adblock installed for Firefox, so I'm not pestered by ads most of the time.

[Josquius]

its not what it once was but i still use it quite regularly.

the  future of social media....could write a lot on that but im on the train. long story short its like the 90s .com bubble. it is seriously  overhyped and over valued but it is here to stay.

facebook....this floation strikes me as take the money and run to a degree. big advertisers are pulling out and people increasingly use hard to advertise with mobile facebook

[Martinus]

Online advertising is vastly superior to most other types of advertising, in that you have a much greater ability to target who you reach compared to TV or print advertising. You also have a much better idea of the reach of your campaign as well; you can tell whether people engage with your add, and who they are.

In addition, in many cases you're not paying for your add to be distributed (as in print or broadcast advertising), but for the traffic you actually get. So from the perspective of someone spending an advertising budget, online campaigns have a lot to recommend them.

Meh, I think the current online ad business model is more of a "everybody is doing that" thing than a thought-out process.

If you want people to visit your website, then paying for google search priority is a much better way of doing that (if I want to buy a book on Amazon, I would go there by typing amazon.com, not by following a link on some website; if I don't want to buy a book on Amazon, I will not suddenly start wanting to do so by seeing a banner on some blog), and if you want simply to raise the brand awareness, then the pay-per-click model makes no sense.

[Jaron]

Online advertising is vastly superior to most other types of advertising, in that you have a much greater ability to target who you reach compared to TV or print advertising. You also have a much better idea of the reach of your campaign as well; you can tell whether people engage with your add, and who they are.

In addition, in many cases you're not paying for your add to be distributed (as in print or broadcast advertising), but for the traffic you actually get. So from the perspective of someone spending an advertising budget, online campaigns have a lot to recommend them.

No honey, just no.
Meh, I think the current online ad business model is more of a "everybody is doing that" thing than a thought-out process.

If you want people to visit your website, then paying for google search priority is a much better way of doing that (if I want to buy a book on Amazon, I would go there by typing amazon.com, not by following a link on some website; if I don't want to buy a book on Amazon, I will not suddenly start wanting to do so by seeing a banner on some blog), and if you want simply to raise the brand awareness, then the pay-per-click model makes no sense.

[Sheilbh]

Online advertising is vastly superior to most other types of advertising, in that you have a much greater ability to target who you reach compared to TV or print advertising. You also have a much better idea of the reach of your campaign as well; you can tell whether people engage with your add, and who they are.

In addition, in many cases you're not paying for your add to be distributed (as in print or broadcast advertising), but for the traffic you actually get. So from the perspective of someone spending an advertising budget, online campaigns have a lot to recommend them.

Meh, I think the current online ad business model is more of a "everybody is doing that" thing than a thought-out process.

If you want people to visit your website, then paying for google search priority is a much better way of doing that (if I want to buy a book on Amazon, I would go there by typing amazon.com, not by following a link on some website; if I don't want to buy a book on Amazon, I will not suddenly start wanting to do so by seeing a banner on some blog), and if you want simply to raise the brand awareness, then the pay-per-click model makes no sense.

I'm not sure.  I think there's the Amazon and Google style of algorithms working out what sort of people are interested in a product.  Being able to analyse that yourself, either through those sites or through social media, means that I think it's more useful than just a normal ad campaign but also has more goals than just driving traffic.  Though I could be wrong.

The other thing is that right now I think companies are more interested in how they can use social media to drive word of mouth than necessarily to advertise.  If Facebook can work out how to make money out of people talking to one another about a product then that's worth far more than most advertising.

[garbon]

It's about high quality leads. If Facebook becomes the sort than companies will pay. It's why pinterest gets money from amazon through its affiliate program.

Ads on facebook are generally pretty lame though and as zanza said not really applicable. In fact, many of the ads look rather sketchy.

[Phillip V]

Facebook can make its money from being a gateway/ecosystem for products and services.

I recommend that they enter the search game to compete against Google. Users are lazy. Add a search button/section to Facebook for internet searches.
For example, one of its issues is how to monetize its mobile app users. Just add a button to the app, and phone users on-the-go will tap the button instead of exiting the Facebook app to use a Google search widget.

How about a Facebook TV service? Click a TV button on the site to launch a new tab or browser window to watch sponsored content or pay for it with Facebook Credits. Video-on-demand is the future. You can see what your Facebook Friends are watching, and they can send you their recommendations in return for a commercial-free viewing.

E-books, online radio, single login for all websites, etc. etc.

As a music artist, I might sell "special" digital songs/items through Facebook that enables access to my "private" Facebook Page. Sales sales sales!

[DontSayBanana]

Meh, I think the current online ad business model is more of a "everybody is doing that" thing than a thought-out process.

If you want people to visit your website, then paying for google search priority is a much better way of doing that (if I want to buy a book on Amazon, I would go there by typing amazon.com, not by following a link on some website; if I don't want to buy a book on Amazon, I will not suddenly start wanting to do so by seeing a banner on some blog), and if you want simply to raise the brand awareness, then the pay-per-click model makes no sense.

Pay-per-click is a perk, not a target.  Let's use your example of a book that you want from Amazon.  There's also a possibility that you'll see the ad, remember the book that you wanted to get, and navigate directly to it.  In that case, the ad has generated the sale, but not the click-through- it's still made money for the publisher.

Social media actually has several channels of exposure for a business.  "Like this and get this deal" offers generate massive exposure, since the people on your feed are possibly one of the best ways to target multiple people with the same tastes and distastes- one like potentially gets exposure on the feeds of everybody on the person's buddy list (not in practice, though, since you can ignore chronic "likers" on your feed).

A business' Facebook page is an even better way to announce sales and offers, too- people have actively opted in to the Facebook page, so it's free and it's going to have a much higher conversion rate than bulk mailers or even an opt-out email list.

[Phillip V]

Meh, I think the current online ad business model is more of a "everybody is doing that" thing than a thought-out process.

If you want people to visit your website, then paying for google search priority is a much better way of doing that (if I want to buy a book on Amazon, I would go there by typing amazon.com, not by following a link on some website; if I don't want to buy a book on Amazon, I will not suddenly start wanting to do so by seeing a banner on some blog), and if you want simply to raise the brand awareness, then the pay-per-click model makes no sense.

Pay-per-click is a perk, not a target.  Let's use your example of a book that you want from Amazon.  There's also a possibility that you'll see the ad, remember the book that you wanted to get, and navigate directly to it.  In that case, the ad has generated the sale, but not the click-through- it's still made money for the publisher.

Social media actually has several channels of exposure for a business.  "Like this and get this deal" offers generate massive exposure, since the people on your feed are possibly one of the best ways to target multiple people with the same tastes and distastes- one like potentially gets exposure on the feeds of everybody on the person's buddy list (not in practice, though, since you can ignore chronic "likers" on your feed).

A business' Facebook page is an even better way to announce sales and offers, too- people have actively opted in to the Facebook page, so it's free and it's going to have a much higher conversion rate than bulk mailers or even an opt-out email list.

Indeed. I have several times taken advantage of Amazon's "Deal of the Day" announced in my News Feed via Amazon's Facebook Page. Free shipping and at my doorstep within a few days!