How Tweet It Is: Expert Suggests Alternatives To Social Media

HOLLYWOOD Calif. -- Social media isn't a good medium for advertising. It is the worst medium for advertising. It will never work. It hasn't worked for chat rooms, message boards, AIM or other socially interactive mediums. Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO at Mahalo, told OMMA Global Hollywood attendees Monday that social media may not work, but search does.

Think of Facebook and social networks as parties, the time when people are least likely to watch advertising. "People don't want marketing messages in social networks or when they are having a dinner party," Calacanis said. "Social media is fantastic at collecting data, behavioral stuff, you can use at some other point, but it's greatly overstated."

Pay-per-click ads in Google are different. That's when people are researching information.

Expect the online ad industry to experience a major economic boost from the turmoil, Calacanis said. The bad years in 2001 and 2002 during the dot-com bust led to innovations by Internet companies; the gap between online ad spending and Internet use closed. "Thinking that the Internet industry has any problem monetizing content over the next couple years is like thinking settlers had problems with real estate in the United States before we crossed the Mississippi," Calacanis said. "We're just getting started. There are massive amounts of gold for us yet to reach."

Calacanis calls Twitter the new Super Bowl commercial. Only it's not a commercial, it's direct marketing: "How much is this worth, being on the auto-suggest list on Twitter?" he asked. "When someone signs up for Twitter, the site provides options for people to follow."

Think of Twitter as a one-on-one direct marketing tool, Calacanis said, except the message is open and available for everyone to read. The search tool on Twitter makes the medium more compelling, but the site needs to clean up the results.

2 comments about "How Tweet It Is: Expert Suggests Alternatives To Social Media ".
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  1. Joshua Rex from AP, March 24, 2009 at 10:13 a.m.

    Nice point indeed! No wonder everyone seems to be scratching there heads trying to work out how to monetise SM.

    Here's a radical idea! What if a brand brought a consumer entertainment and utility, instead of trying to invade a social space with advertising.

    Here at Open, we are using display media to deliver utility, fun and interactivity.....the basis for ongoing consumer-brand conversation.

    Here's a recent example:

    http://mydeco.com/the-magazine/design-box-widget

    By God it works!! 50%+ uplift in impression bought and CTR rate of more than 6%.

    At the end of the day, it's about fitting into the environment. Simple really.

    Joshua Rex - Open

    joshua@thisisopen.com/blog

  2. Sandra Ponce de leon from BuzzLogic, March 24, 2009 at 11:49 p.m.

    I like the analogy Jason - but to only reference social net advertising and paid search misses a huge opportunity, and Twitter has yet to deliver true targeting and measurable value.

    You're the godfather of blogs - what do you think?

    http://www.buzzlogic.com/blog/2009/03/i_dont_want_your_stinking_ad_i.html

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