This link has been bookmarked by 3 people . It was first bookmarked on 11 Jan 2008, by Bill H.
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25 Jan 08
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critical mass of users
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13 Jan 08
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11 Jan 08
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David Liu, senior vice president of social media, messaging, and home pages at AOL, said Tuesday at CES that the key to the success of social networks is that they allow people to tell their "stories" online to make connections that can exist both online and in real life. Communities that allow people to do this in a user-friendly way will have the most success in the long run, he said.
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However, the expectations of users differ from those of advertisers, and companies running those sites must serve them both. So while users may find personal information -- such as someone's vacation photos -- interesting and useful, advertisers probably will not, unless they help them target ads to those users.
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There are a couple of reasons advertisers have not been able to take full advantage of targeted advertising on social networks, according to Jang. One is that people have been putting user-generated content into three buckets -- "one that is not that great or interesting to the user or advertiser, one that is mildly interesting, and one that is universally well-received," Jang said. He said advertisers and social-networking companies should broaden their preconceived notions of user-generated content to find new ways to create the right kind of advertising for their communities
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Another reason it's been difficult to target ads is the "creepy" factor, said Alex Blum, CEO, of KickApps, which provides software for building online communities and social networks. He cited the controversy surrounding Facebook's Beacon online advertising engine, which reported users' online behavior back to the company even when they weren't logged into the site .
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By knowing what people like to do by viewing their publicly available tastes in books, music, and films, companies can tailor ads related to those interests without making users feel as if their online behavior is being tracked, he said.
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"We look at these social networks the same way we look at Miami, London, and Dubai," he said. "(Facebook) is a city, and an incredible vehicle for people to create micro niches around news that is important to them."
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