Essay recommend

[foxfirefey]

synecdochic has written an exceedingly long and notable essay called: Why Monetizing Social Media Through Advertising Is Doomed To Failure, which I felt people here might enjoy if they have not seen it already, as we have been watching the doomy spiral here for some time.

Comments

[thedeli]

Thanks for posting this.

['Doomey spiral' sounds like some high-school psychedelic jam band.]

[foxfirefey]

You're welcome!

Doomy Spiral -- Mo' Mo' Monetization

[thedeli]

Is that the name of their cassette demo?

[foxfirefey]

Sounds like a good name to me!

[ex_uniquewo]

I quote:

1. advertising is unobtrusive, gentle, and respectful;
2. people feel like the advertising is relevant to them;
3. people feel like they get value from the advertising;
4. people feel like the service owners make choices for them first, not advertisers first;
5. people do not feel like they are being exploited, monetized, turned into commodities, or in any way, shape, or form being used primarily to generate revenue for the company without receiving fair market value.

/quote

ColourLovers has at least #2, #4, #5 and partly #1. When the site needed more money, they refused to put more ads, they created paid accounts (with additional but non essential benefits) because they knew if would have lessened the value of the site, which, in turn, made me want to support them. Of course, I don't know if the site's profitable or how much it is.

[foxfirefey]

Oh ColourLovers, how I love you so.

[ex_uniquewo]

*basks with you in the CL love*

:P

[foxfirefey]

Although, ColourLovers has an advantage general social media sites like LJ do not when it comes to ads--it has a narrow focus range and can target better.