Marketers are reaching kids where they live: MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. JP Morgan Chase, looking to foster loyalty among college kids who like to use their credit cards, recently hired students at
300 college campuses to produce sponsored food-and-game incentives that would appeal to young people. Instead of using its Web site, it chose Facebook as the medium to reach students. That's just one
example of how social networks serve as bulletin boards to get messages out. Marketing initiatives that involve young people need to go farther than placing banner ads on a Web site. They have to
speak directly to them, and give them something relevant, like a free meal. Other companies creating campaigns for social networks include Burger King, Apple Computer and Wendy's. Burger King's
MySpace page for "the King," its new, wide-grinning mascot appearing in most of its commercials, has amassed more than 120,000 friends. How does a blatant marketing ploy land that many friends? Free
giveaways of TV shows, like Fox's "24" and "American Dad." If you give these kids free stuff, they'll happily lap up whatever marketing message you offer. MySpace, with its 50 million uniques, is the
right place to be. And more and more of its users are over the age of 35, too. According to comScore Media Metrix, about 36 percent of MySpace users are between the ages of 35 and 54.
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