Make Friends, Don´t Pitch Them

Millward Brown's POV, August 2008


Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have empowered people on an unprecedented scale to build and maintain connections with others. These sites allow users to share personal news, interests, and videos, as well as to play games and get to know each other better. Can these virtual neighborhoods also be a space where marketers can build and maintain their brands?


Until a few years ago, the term “social network” was limited to the realm of academia. Today online social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Bebo, and Orkut offer people the chance to reach out to existing friends and make new ones. What started as a youth-driven online phenomenon has now filtered into all age groups, and users can access their communities using mobile phones as well as computers. Now that social networks have logged over a billion registered users, it is no wonder that marketers are interested in the possibility of connecting with consumers through the social media. Advertising on social networks is projected to grow faster than other online formats in the coming year, but even so, advertisers are struggling to find good ways to engage people in this evolving environment.

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