Social Networking

Another Web 2.0 opportunity comes through social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. These sites allow their users to interact with each other in many ways, either by sharing pictures, joining groups, sending private messages, and using other constantly-evolving applications. Networking sites are free, used by a lot of different people, and allow websites to market themselves or their product as they see fit. These sites can direct a lot of traffic through advertising, but free use of these sites is no guarantee for traffic, because the social networking audience is notoriously fickle.

Both Facebook and MySpace have begun finding ways to become friendlier to marketers. Newscorp, the company that owns FOX, also owns MySpace, a testament to how powerful the business world finds these Web 2.0 applications. Both Facebook and MySpace are allowing more and more targeted advertising to their users. Facebook in particular has begun a very specific method of marketing by picking up keywords and demographics information within the profile of various users, then targeting advertising to those keywords.

The individual marketer can use these applications to gain exposure and promote their products, websites, or ideas. Some companies have begun advertising and organizing people online. One example is Pepsi, which uses applications Facebook users can add to their profile page to promote Pepsi products through a game. Other potential marketing areas include creating groups and finding potential customers by identifying who those potential customers are and catering to their needs based on the information they already have online.