They may be among the most-visited sites on the internet, but even this type of exposure doesn’t seem to be enough to keep the naysayers at bay. The Guardian is reporting that market research company eMarketing is to lower its social-networking sector’s ad-spend forecast by $250 million (£127 million).
The downturn in ad-spending brings the total revenue predicted by 2011 down to £2.15bn.
Fake ‘viral’ marketing to blame
Speaking about the announcement, Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer's senior analyst, said: "Social-networking websites are still trying to figure out what sort of advertising works.
"Tapping into consumers' conversations and spreading brand awareness virally has proven more challenging than companies originally thought."
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nicolasmerritt
May 23rd
2. I am glad to hear it.
And I've always been a bit skeptical anyway. Adverts work best when you are in a frame of mind to be receptive to them. That's why they work in magazines, or on search engines. But has anyone every clicked on an ad within Gmail, for example? Similarly, why would anyone want to see ads on Facebook? You go on there to talk to friends not engage with advertisers.
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gavin
May 23rd
1. I think it has come to a point where it is hard to move forward. The trend is now to focus on key groups. With a few social networking sites popping up for these groups, such as UGame.
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