Let’s Discuss:
There are many online social networking sites out there and there are many avid subscribers and users of these networks. As popularity increases, so does the number of new social networking sites. Will these survive on Eyeballs alone?

EMG 30-Second Rundown:
In the television heyday there were 3 major networks which split to four with Fox’s move into the market in 1986. Less competition = more eyeballs. More eyeballs = bigger ad spends. The 4 major networks had an airwave monopoly controlling a popular medium that allowed advertisers to reach into living rooms. In the late ’90s through today, cable and satellite television providers have been adding more channels and splitting those audiences between an ever growing list of channels. More competition=fewer eyeballs. Fewer eyeballs=less revenue per network because advertisers have to split their spends across multiple networks to reach the same number of people. Are we currently witnessing a similar event in the online market space?

Google recently released Google Buzz as a social media platform to cut into twitter’s market share, and all before twitter has released a revenue generation model. Smart business move or is Google diluting their product offerings? We know how Google has monetized their search model. They have a whole slew of services around serving up ads on specific key word searches. Twitter on the other hand does not have a proven revenue model, so how will they endure?

EMG Takeaway:
What are the ways that twitter can make money based around their platform?

1. In page ad serve. Ok, one of the easiest to come up with off the top of my head is serving ads on twitter pages or inter tweet ads. Simple, easy, but questionable in effectiveness. They could serve relevant ads based around tweets, but would you click on inter tweet ads or learn to tune them out after you get used to the format? I would liken these to display ad traffic. Not necessarily the highest converting traffic or the best bang for your buck, but with large volume users, they could probably generate revenue from this model.
2. http://search.twitter.com - Follow a Google model and serve up ads based on search terms on their search feature. This is starting to look a little more promising, but still lacks the wide spread value that Google has. This is because twitter searches tweets and there aren’t as many people searching for products through a twitter search. This approach lacks that critical tie in like the pay per click campaigns have on a Google search where people are actually looking for general products and services.
3. http://apiwiki.twitter.com/Twitter-API-Documentation - Twitter has an api that developers can tap into and pull feeds, but more importantly, set up interfaces to search twitter which makes it one of the biggest and arguably the most powerful social barometers around. It could be an invaluable tool for businesses and marketing agencies to interface with this api to research what the general population is tweeting about. This information becomes more and more valuable as the number of Tweeters goes up.

I have searched around and found many proposed revenue models for twitter and similar social networking sites. There is no way for us to tell exactly how they are going to make money until they actually do, but in the meantime we can use them for entertainment, staying connected, meeting new people and those of us in Marketing can use them as valuable tools in our day to day.

Final words:
The next time you are tweeting or reading someone else’s tweets, jump over to http://search.twitter.com and type in the first thing that comes to mind. Now start searching for terms relating to your business, your clients, your industry. At the very least it is extremely entertaining, but quite possibly a very powerful tool to help you shape your business and product offerings.

Questions for Discussion:

• Have twitter, and now Google, figured out a secret way to capitalize on people boasting their current state of mind and they are just waiting to unleash it on as at a later time, or are we going through dot com boom v2.0?
• Will Google’s Buzz cut into twitter’s market share, pulling people away from twitter and diluting the results of their “societal/cultural barometer”?
• What do you think will happen to the online social networking space as more and more ventures release social networking sites? Will people expand the networks they use, will the strong survive and the rest fail or will interest in social networks dwindle as people become over socialized?
• Will these social networks lose the critical mass that they needed to sell products or assemble the collective conscience that is needed to shape a marketing campaign?

…Only time will tell.

Let’s Discuss:
MicroHoo, YahSoft… whichever way you mash it up; it’s official! The Microsoft/ Yahoo deal proposed last summer has finally received clearance from U.S. and E.U. regulators.

EMG 30-Second Rundown:
What does this mean aside from some serious fist pumping from Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer?

We’re entering a new era of search with an alliance that aims to challenge Google’s market dominance. Yahoo and Microsoft shadow Google with recent comScore reports ranking Google’s share of searches at 65.7%, followed by Yahoo and Microsoft at 17.3% and 10.7% respectively.

Combining search from Yahoo and Microsoft will expand the collective data pool from which Microsoft can further develop, test and tweak platforms, search-related features and algorithms. The enhanced performance will boost both companies’ ability to compete against Google by improving search results, as well as amplifying appeal to search advertisers.

Taking over Yahoo’s search functionality will grant Microsoft access to nearly three times the search queries it’s receiving independently. The increased search volume will enable accelerated algorithmic innovation resulting in more relevant results for a larger pool of search queries.

Delegating search duties to Microsoft frees up Yahoo to focus investment on areas in which they excel including building their portfolio of destination web properties and display advertising capabilities.

So what will this new alliance look like? In a nutshell, Microsoft (Bing) will power Yahoo’s organic and paid search platforms while Yahoo will handle premium search advertising sales for the combined unit.

Celebrations for overcoming this regulatory milestone will be short-lived as the companies’ goal will is to have U.S. implementation completed by the end of 2010. Further details can be found on the official Search Alliance site.

EMG Takeaway:
Attention advertisers, marketers, shareholders and general search enthusiasts (i.e. everyone)… prepare yourselves because the real battle for search market dominance is about to begin!

We’re going to see more performance improvements, more product innovation and better integration from all players as Google’s monopolistic advantages wane under increased competitive pressure.

Google may be forced to up the ante on traditional media buys (e.g. “Search Stories” Super Bowl spot) to defend against Bing’s mass media quest for search mind share as the “Decision Engine.”

Ultimately, this deal is going to mean different things to different groups of people. However, we will all benefit from stronger competition in the search marketplace as it forces companies to work harder for our loyalty.

Final Words:
There will be big changes in the search market landscape with the Microsoft/ Yahoo search alliance rapidly coming to fruition. Maintaining and acquiring search share will demand that key players (and challengers) diversify product offerings without diluting the meaning behind their brand promise.

While search is as much a societal mainstay as the internet, the business of search is still very much in its infancy. Whether the search engine on top will be Google, MicroHoo or a new challenger, one thing is certain; the biggest winner will be the engine able to monetize search services beyond “10 Blue Links” and banner inundation in a manner that benefits searchers, advertisers and publishers.

Three Questions to Continue the Discussion:
1.)    How is this going to affect SEM campaign management?
2.)    What efforts will Google take to maintain search dominance?
3.)    Preferred mashup; MicroHoo or YahSoft?

Inspired by Mashable’s Onion Ring More Popular Than Justin Bieber in Latest Facebook Meme

Let’s Discuss: Wildly popular “other” Facebook fan pages that are neither Artist, Band, Public Figure, Brand, Product, Organization, or Local Entity (the categories Facebook expects all fan pages to ascribe to), and the motivating forces behind their creation and popularity with those who fan them.

EMG 30-Second Rundown
Some examples of these “other” Facebook fan pages are: Ra Ra Ra Ah Ah Ah, Roma Ro Ma Ma, Gaga Ooh La La (915,233 fans and counting), Snow Cones (528,184 fans and counting), and Can this Onion Ring get more fans than Stephen Harper? (145,166 fans and counting, good thing fried food can’t be elected Canadian Prime Minister).

For context, Honda, which ended its recent Super Bowl commercial with a reference to Facebook.com/Honda, has 299,262 Facebook fans. And in case you’re wondering, “Ra Ra Ra Ah Ah Ah, Roma Ro Ma Ma, Gaga Ooh La La” is a lyric from the Lady Gaga song Bad Romance. That’s correct; a lyric from a Lady Gaga song has more fans on Facebook than the 5th largest manufacturer of cars in the world. I digress.

It’s important to note to that according to Facebook terms of service, “Pages are special profiles that may only be used to promote a business or other commercial, political, or charitable organization or endeavor (including non-profit organizations, political campaigns, bands, and celebrities).” Facebook suggests users who want to create other types of fan pages create a Facebook Group instead, but that hasn’t stopped the flood of these non-conformist Facebook fan pages.

The EMG Takeaway
Why do people create and join these fan pages?

• To display adoration (“I love snow cones, I’ll make a Facebook fan page!”) or perhaps to find others who share a common passion; after all, the best social endeavors facilitate connections of value. On the Snow Cones fan page, the post “Do you have an awesome snow cone story? Let’s hear it!” elicited 691 comments, including my favorite, “While I was pregnant with my first son, I was very sick the entire 9 months. I even lost 40 lbs. because I couldn’t keep food down. The only thing I could eat was Snowcones! Snowcones saved me. My son, now 21, always tells this story to explain why he loves them too.” Unofficial fan pages become micro-niche communities around a common passion.

• To make others laugh, or to be the author of an internet meme. The virality of the internet is greased with humor (ask the founders of Fail Blog, the creators of Rick Rolling, or the 5 million people who go to Break.com every month). According to the original admin of Ra Ra Ra Ah Ah Ah, Roma Ro Ma Ma, Gaga Ooh La La, “I started the page because it was a joke between me and my friends, we didn’t really like the song and thought the lyrics were really random… I didn’t really expect it to get too many fans but then it randomly got big, very fast.” While I personally wouldn’t laugh if I saw a friend become a fan of this particular page, I might if I noticed a friend fan, “Pretending to Text in Awkward Situations,” (3,149,129 fans and counting).

• To make a statement or join a movement. In an environment where fans = popularity, demonstrating that an onion ring can garner more fans than the Prime Minister of Canada is quite a statement. Judging by fan comments on the page “Can this Onion Ring get more fans than Stephen Harper?” (“Onion rings are far more tasty than Conservative policy” and “Even this bad onion ring is better for my health than Stephen Harper”), the statement made by the page creator clearly resonates. In this case fanning a page is almost like slapping a bumper sticker on your car. Also consider that people gravitate towards movements with goals (let’s get more fans than…), and they join these fan pages for the same reason people “followed” Ashton Kutcher on Twitter to help him beat out CNN in a race to one million followers. We want to be a part of something greater than ourselves.

So what can you learn from these “other” fan pages?

As you build your own “official” fan pages, seek out fans that love what you do or the product you provide. When you do engage with your fans, the responses will be that much more passionate, genuine, and valuable to the connections you are creating. Study the most successful of these fan pages as a lesson in what goes viral. “Pretending to Text in Awkward Situations” sounds like an awesome campaign name Boost Mobile. Finally, give your fan base, audience, customers, etc. something to rally around. Yes, contests and sweepstakes are a great motivator, but uniting people in pursuit of a singular and common goal can be very powerful too.

Final Words: Facebook fan pages are great for brands…and a source of niche-communities, viral humor, and Canadian political movements we can all learn from.

3 Questions to Continue the Discussion

1. Have you joined one of these “other” Facebook fan pages? And if so, why?
2. Can you suggest a better categorization for these pages than “other”?
3. Do these pages constitute spam and dilute the value of “official” Facebook fan pages?

Photo credit: Dhack55 / Flickr