Extending the Social Network

MySpace and Facebook connect users to other users. Is that enough?

eMarketer, September 25, 2008 — Facebook talks a lot about the "social graph." It is basically the network of connections between people, which changes and is amplified based on contributions that various people make to the network. The social graph matters to marketers because knowing how social graphs work can makes ads and campaigns more effective, according to Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer.

For Mobile Users, Texting Tops Talking†

Nielsen: Number of Messages Eclipses Calls for Second Straight Quarter

Advertising Age, September 23, 2008 — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends and receives more text messages than phone calls. The trend toward texting has several roots, not the least of which is an inundation of new devices with integrated keyboards, like Nokia's N810.

The Tell-All Campus Tour

New York Times, September 21, 2008 — Broke young college graduates with ideas for awesome new Web sites are about as thick on the ground as pigeons in New York City, but Jordan Goldman has a talent for getting noticed. Born and raised in Staten Island, he graduated from Wesleyan in 2004, spent two post-grad years in England and, upon his return to his native city, lived in 16 different sublets in the next two years. His own parents referred to him as the Wandering Jew. “I was ordering Chinese lunch specials and dividing them into three,” he remembered recently, “and that was my food for days. My mom thought I was nuts. She kept saying, ‘Get a job,’ and I’d say, ‘No, Ma, I have this idea.’ ”

Turns Out, We're Not Such Big Multitaskers†

MRI Study Finds Most Media Usage Confined to One at a Time

Advertising Age, September 17, 2008 — Marketers have begun to believe that the average consumer is able to surf the web, answer a cellphone, read a newspaper or magazine, listen to an iPod and watch TV all at the same time. Yet a report released by MRI this week found that multitasking is less frequent than might be expected.

Twittering From the Cradle

A host of new sites, including Totspot, Odadeo, Lil’Grams and Kidmondo, offer parents a chance to invite friends and family to join and contribute to a network geared to connecting them to the baby in

New York Times, September 11, 2008 — IT would be easy to assume that the first month of Cameron Chase’s life followed the monotonous cycle of eat-sleep-poop familiar to any new parent. But anyone who has read his oft-updated profile on Totspot, a site billed as Facebook for children, knows better. Cameron, of Winter Garden, Fla., has lounged poolside in a bouncy seat with his grandparents, noted that Tropical Storm Fay passed by his hometown, and proclaimed that he finds the abstract Kandinsky print above his parents’ bed “very stimulating!”

McDonald's Steps Aside In Reaching Out To Teens

MediaPost Publications, September 9, 2008 — Marketing to millennials in the wild and woolly world of social media means getting out of the way. That was a major theme of Kim Lloyd's address at the PMA Digital Marketing Summit in New York on Monday.

The kids are taking over virtual worlds

Although digital realms haven't caught on among adults, future is paved with child-centric fare

Statesman, September 8, 2008 — Remember how we were all supposed to do our real-world shopping in virtual malls and hold our business meetings in virtual offices by now?

Despite the ups and downs of highly detailed 3-D virtual worlds such as Second Life, There.com and Kaneva, that never really happened.

To Reach Mobile Users, Make Your Marketing Useful†

Roundtable of Experts Says Smart Advertisers Will Use the Medium to Provide Consumers Something Valuable

Advertising Age, September 8, 2008 — When it comes to mobile marketing, advertisers have not only a challenge but a mandate to create something useful for consumers, according to a panel of experts Advertising Age gathered to talk about the opportunities — and potential pitfalls — of reaching consumers on their phones. Good mobile marketing, the consensus said, takes advantage of the channel's inherent traits and ties into other media.

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

New York Times, September 5, 2008 — On Sept. 5, 2006, Mark Zuckerberg changed the way that Facebook worked, and in the process he inspired a revolt. Zuckerberg, a doe-eyed 24-year-old C.E.O., founded Facebook in his dorm room at Harvard two years earlier, and the site quickly amassed nine million users. By 2006, students were posting heaps of personal details onto their Facebook pages, including lists of their favorite TV shows, whether they were dating (and whom), what music they had in rotation and the various ad hoc “groups” they had joined (like “Sex and the City” Lovers).

Gap Widens in Online Advertising†

Rivals Struggle to Catch Up to Google As Buyers Favor Search Ads Over Display

Wall Street Journal, September 4, 2008 — Spending on Internet advertising is climbing at a healthy clip — rising 20% in the U.S. in the second quarter — and growth forecasts are strong despite the weak economy. But that growth isn't being enjoyed by everyone.