The Lifestream of Jon Moss

If the world is a target...

December 15 2008, 10:15pm

"Advertisers face hurdles on social networks," the New York Times headline read on a widely Twittered story this weekend.If you haven't read the story, I'll summarize it in six words: Advertising doesn't work on social networks.Advertising in the traditional sense will never really work on social networks -- the traditional sense being display ads or perhaps text ads, the innovation that fuels the Google money machine. So when Ted McConnell (no relation) of P&G is quoted in the Times as saying, "I don't really want to buy any more display ads on Facebook," his peers in the traditional world of brand management will surely take notice.Here's where the Times article unintentionally captures the head-on collision between traditional advertising and social media:

“All brands want consumers to be their ‘friends.’ Oh, boy, do they!” But speaking for himself, (Ted McConnell) said he had reservations about the very premise. “I don’t want to be best friends with a brand,” he said. “It’s just stuff.”

Is a brand just stuff, or is a brand made up of people?It's both. Advertising is the proxy of the brand manager, but social networks ignore proxies. Social networks remove the degrees of separation between people.What a whole lot of people on social networks want is a direct connection with the people behind the brands. That's been the biggest trend in marketing the past three years, and will continue well into the new year.Update, the next day: A survey of 500 Americans found that 62% of them prefer direct and personal communication with a company’s online brand representative than ads or promotional materials.