I thought it would be much easier to write something for this blog but I was wrong. After paying alot of attention when I could not decide on what to write, I decided to take a break.
Taking a break for me means getting on Facebook. So I got on Facebook and started browsing through my friends’ pages and I suddenly noticed some advertisements on the right side of the page. I got an idea to write my blog for this week, and decided to write about advertisements on Facebook. I looked online and found some articles which I thought were interesting. I came across an interesting article named “Can social networks make money?” Even before reading this article I had a personal opinion that Facebook advertisements do not capture its user’s attention. I myself do not pay attention to the advertisements on Facebook and just out of curiosity asked few of my friends if they do. They all answered no!
After reading the article, my opinion about advertisements not making money on Facebook was correct. The article mentions that with increasing number of users on social networks like Facebook and Myspace, marketers thought that it would be great idea to capture the attention of alot of customers. I was surprised to read that US advertisers will spend $755 million on MySpace and $265 million on Facebook this year.
Like the article mentioned, I do not think marketers on Facebook with their advertisement are capturing the attention of its users. Facebook has a lot of young generation users and they are not interested in looking at the ads displayed. I also agree with the article that not all the members on Facebook are active users. If people like me, who are regular users of Facebook, do not pay attention to the ads, how will the ads capture those who are not regular users?
I believe the reason we don’t pay attention to the ads on Facebook is because our main goal is to stay connected with friends. Speaking of my experience itself, I hardly pay attention to the ads. Even after noticing the ads, I do not remember clicking on the ads a single time. I do not think these advertisements are actually needed on Facebook. I will rather pay attention to ads on Yahoo.com or any other search engine than Facebook. The reason is because when you are on other websites such as Yahoo.com, you tend to look at news, games, gossip or ads. The reasons you get on those websites are because you want to be informed with new things. But with social networks, the focus of its users is mainly toward socializing with friends.
Like I said ads on Facebook don’t work but I also believe that if right kinds of ads are displayed on Facebook it might make a difference. An interesting thing I read was about Pizza Hut launching an application on Facebook so that the users can order pizza without leaving the Facebook website. I think this is a great way for Pizza Hut to advertise their pizza. The reason I think they might be successful is because pizza is something alot of young generation consume. I think depending on the right product for right people is really important. With majority of users on Facebook being the young generation, it is likely that a Pizza Hut application will work. Many a times, me and my friends order pizza online because we find it easy and quick.
Another way to attract its users, Pizza Hut does other promotions like drawing $50 gift cards if you order pizza online. I think that’s a great way to attract anyone who likes pizza.
Looking at Facebook currently, I see three ads being displayed. One is about a website where you can display your art. The other is about fitness and third is about an online degree course. None of these interest me, but if I had seen stuff like get pizza for $5 or save $5 on cosmetics etc I might have taken some interest. Displaying ads on Facebook is just not enough. Until the word is completely out that “xyz’s” application is on Facebook, they should advertise it on their official website. This means that if Pizza Hut is going to launch an application on Facebook, they should not just advertise it on Facebook but on their actual website pizzahut.com. Because alot of Pizza Hut consumers are going to their official website to order the pizza and if they see the Facebook advertisement on the official website, it’s more likely they will remember.
I think it was really interesting to read about the new emerging way of advertisement. I believe Social networks like Facebook and Myspace can be profitable on advertisement only if they research and advertise the right products.
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Haramain - This is very topical and you have some interesting comments here. I think you are right, for the most part (maybe entirely). One thing I have been wondering lately (and would love to do research on) is whether the exposure of the ad on Facebook would make you more likely to prefer that product in other contexts (so, you wouldn't necessarily go there directly from Facebook, but when faced with the choice you have been exposed, and therefore, feel better about the brand/product next time you encounter it - and would that be worth it for advertisers?). The one thing you need to improve upon in your blogs and certainly for your paper is writing/grammar. It might be just a proofreading thing, but let me know if you want me to go over the issues I see. Good job on this.
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