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| Bebo Launches More Original Programming With “Meet the Freshers” Posted: 18 Sep 2008 02:46 PM CDT
The show’s host is Tom Thurlow who according to Wikipedia is “a British Schoolboy Entrepreneur, best known for epi-culture, a children’s book company which specialises in signed first editions.” Apparently he’s a popular guy but I’m not so sure about his acting career. I’m guessing that Tom will find other individuals that are actually doing work but based on the trailer I’m not so sure about that. Bebo has been focusing on original content creation and this is a continuation of that effort. While there has never been follow-up statistics on what sort of results the original programs have produced, we assume that Bebo wouldn’t continue to produce the original programs if they weren’t successful. Given that social networks are one of the primary sources for media distribution, I’m guessing we’ll see more original programming come out of social networks. Check out the video below for a sample of the show. While it probably isn’t targeted for your demographic, it definitely gives you a good sense of what’s going to be discussed.
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| Virginia-based BrandClik Launches Another Ad Network Posted: 18 Sep 2008 11:42 AM CDT
Aside from the company being based in the D.C. area I’m not quite sure what makes this different then existing text-based ad networks. The critical partnership which the company is touting is with the National Newspaper Association. Currently the company has a number of locally-based content providers and advertisers. It’s clear that this company is at the extremely early stages but it’s great to see another company in the D.C. metro area giving it a shot. The company has a lot of work to do on their design but then again when your company is dealing with text links, I don’t think design really matters that much. In an already saturated market getting the attention of publishers requires networks to generate high CPM rates. Only the large ones in addition to a few niche players have been effective at generating great CPMs. I think BrandClik is going to need to find some big advertisers before they hit it big. Additionally it makes sense to focus on a specific industry. Rather than discount them before they’ve had a chance to succeed, I’ll give this company a few months to see if they can put together an impressive list of publishers and advertisers. |
| BuzzLogic Launches Blogger Ad Network Posted: 18 Sep 2008 11:09 AM CDT
While the solution sounds like a smart one, attracting the attention of bloggers has become increasingly challenging as the advertising network industry has become overly saturated. Saturation is not just happening within blog ad networks. Social networks have also seen an increase in saturation and based on people I spoke to at Social Ad Summit on Monday, things are about to get much more saturated. One interesting thing about this new BuzzLogic ad network is how advertisements are targeted. According to the release, “Unlike vertical networks that target based on category, the Conversation Ad Network targets ads based on the trusted relationships formed between blogs engaging in conversations on specific topics, as well as each blogger's credibility on that topic.” To think that years after blogging took off we are still trying to develop effective advertising solutions, is somewhat surprising. Then again, this news emphasizes how social media is still a young industry. While social media as a whole is maturing, monetization is still something that many are trying to figure out. Unfortunately, I think we are going to see even more ad networks launch before consolidation starts to become widespread. |
| SGN Expands Beyond Facebook, Launches iPhone Game Posted: 18 Sep 2008 10:32 AM CDT
It appears that the company has decided to proceed with new platforms and also a broader strategy as they acquire more wide reaching applications like (fluff)Friends. When it comes down to it, iPhone applications can be just as social as social platform applications so it makes sense that the iPhone is included in SGN’s strategy. Personally, I found this game to be one of the more entertaining iPhone games even though it’s extremely simple. I could see an upgradable version in which you can purchase levels and actually play on a course rather than just hit the driving range. I’ll be interested to see if SGN decides to focus more on the iPhone instead of just social platforms. This move also emphasizes how mobile platforms and social platforms are competing for developer resources. Larger companies will be able to play in both areas but smaller development teams have been stretched to the limits and now need to choose one or the other. Honestly, any company involved in social gaming needs to be expanding on to mobile platforms. That’s because mobile is inherently social. |
| Social Ad Summit in Photos, Part 1 Posted: 18 Sep 2008 08:00 AM CDT This Monday marked the inaugural Social Ad Summit. Initial feedback has been pretty positive and I was honestly surprise with how well it went. We worked night and day to pull this off and also got the support of JESS3 and my event director Reggie Kouba to help put the finishing touches on everything. We have thousands of photos from the event but I’ve gone ahead and embedded the first set. We will be posting more over the coming days on here and on the Social Times Facebook fan page. If you see yourself in photos but aren’t tagged, go ahead and add me as a friend and we’ll add you to the albums. Thanks a million to all of our sponsors, speakers, and all the attendees that showed up to make this an amazing event. We are looking forward to hosting the second one next year! Stay tuned for more updates on new events in the coming weeks.
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Bebo will be launching yet another new original program tomorrow about first year university students in the United Kingdom. They are going all over the country to see what these students do with their lives. Based on the trailer below it sounds like they drink, party and have sex and not much else. It also doesn’t appear that this show has much of a production budget.
This morning I wrote about the launch of the BuzzLogic ad network. I also said that we will most definitely begin to see more ad networks launch before consolidation starts to take place. Well here’s another to add to the list! 
Last night BuzzLogic announced the release of their “Conversation Ad Network”. The new service uses Nielsen BuzzLogic’s influence tracking service to attract advertisers. It’s a pretty smart idea as BuzzLogic is one of the premier influence tracking services. The use of influence to determine effective advertising CPMs is a relatively new strategy and one that I’ve suggested could be used to produce the “personal CPM” on social networks.
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