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There will be a dramatic shift in online advertising according to the inventor of Meetup.com. Online users want to control their privacy and the data they put online. The change is that we want to be known as individuals - not members of a homogenized group. We choose our online friends and the businesses we want to interact with, and those businesses will realize a new powerful market force.
The new model creates a more trusted environment for reaching high-value, frequent purchasers, whether of airline tickets, electronics, clothes or other items. Where does that leave the less-frequent purchasers? Probably looking to their friends rather than to advertising for advice. I'm an expert on travel; my friends may look to me for hotel choices. When I'm in the mood to buy a book or a new computer, I'll check out what my friends on Facebook are doing.
This does not mean that traditional online advertising will go away, just that it will become less effective. Value is being created in users' own walled gardens, which they will cultivate for themselves in real estate owned by the social networks. The new value creators are companies -- like Facebook and Dopplr -- that know how to build and support online communities.
(online.wsj)
References: online.wsj
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tech
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