November 17, 2008

McConnell told the conference that he does not think P&G should continue to buy banner ads on Facebook, although he believes there is still value in branded Facebook applications.....

Adknowledge are a social media ad platform. In September we served 10 billion ads into social media applications across Facebook, MySpace, Hi5, Bebo, Friendster and Orkut. Along with monetising apps we also offer brands the opportunity to "rent an app": here's an example: http://apps.new.facebook.com/videotheater/Video.php?contentId=4

for more information pbowen@adknowledge.com

Sounds like a grumpy old man. Does he prefer the slide rule over calculators? Carrier pigeons over e-mail?

That is a ridiculous statement. This is capitalism. How is facebook going to make money if they don't sell ads? Facebook is a free service and without ads there is no revenue and no more Facebook.

Who cares how Facebook is going to make money?

Do people sit through TV adverts to make sure the stations make money?
Do people turn up early to the cinema to make sure that they are there for the adverts?
Do you pause as you come across print advertising, just to make sure that they are getting enough of your attention for what they have paid for?

Now, if Facebook were selling stock, then there would be a reason to ask about their business model. If your business was like Twitter, and Facebook were offering you shares in the company as an offer to buy your business- then there's a reason to ask. But if Facebook are offering you something for free (branded applications on their platform) that you think is more effective than their paid advertising, why should you care about their business model?

It's not as though Facebook would suddenly spend millions of dollars on Pampers if P&G's business was threatened...