IanSchafer.com

The Aging of Social Networks

I was briefly quoted in an article on the aging of social networks -- or at least their users by Advertising Age's Michael Learmonth.

Sometime in 2007, the recent grads that made up the core of Facebook came to a doleful realization: Yup, mom and all her friends are on Facebook. The following year it got worse: The once-exclusive club of the young was completely infiltrated by colleagues, bosses, neighbors and others who might not be amused when little Johnny gets tagged in a photo getting totally ripped with his pals.

Social networking is no longer a youth phenomenon. As Facebook marches toward 52 million U.S. users (170 million worldwide), the site is beginning to look like, well, America. Which is to say, it looks a lot older. As of January, more than 50% of Facebook users and 44% of MySpace users in the U.S. were over 35 years old, according to ComScore estimates. The single biggest age demographic in the U.S. on both Facebook and MySpace is now between 35 and 44. Indeed, Facebook says its fastest-growing demo is 55-plus.

Click here to read the rest of a pretty insightful piece.

Latest On Reasons For Use of Social Networks

I was recently quoted in an eMarketer article on the reasons behind Social Networking usage. No surprise that the main reason people use those kinds of sites is to keep up with their friends.

Plugging in to Social Networkers’ Behavior FEBRUARY 20, 2009

Brands do best by helping users do what they like

In the social media arena, marketers know that traffic is high and increasing, but social networks have yet to find a solid revenue stream.

The disparity between usage and advertising is striking.

In 2009, more than 44% of Internet users will visit a social network at least once per month, according to eMarketer. But social network advertising represents just 5% of overall online ad dollars.

It’s no wonder that traditional online ad formats, such as display, are not terribly successful. Social networkers are preoccupied.

A November 2008 JPMorgan survey showed that 78% of online social networkers were there to keep in touch with friends. One-half of respondents said they wanted to connect with old friends. Many more were engaged with content, such as sharing photographs or music.

Marketers will get more leverage with consumers by providing widgets and other applications to help people chat and create and share content, as Ian Schafer, CEO and founder of ad agency Deep Focus, told eMarketer.

“Social networking is not just about the display advertising, it’s about the other things that you can do with it,” he said. “For example, if my audience is active on Facebook, I want to be sure that I am making it very easy for someone to share whatever content they’re creating or consuming with all their friends.”

Capturing and making sense of all the activity on social sites is daunting for marketers, admitted Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer.

But there are a number of methods for marketers to tap into these sites.

“Social networks are where consumers feel comfortable expressing their feelings—good or bad—about companies, products and services,” Ms. Williamson said. “Marketers, retailers and social networks have an opportunity to tap into this stream of information-sharing.”

Both MySpace and Facebook are exploring e-commerce initiatives that incorporate users into the process. For instance, at MySpace Music users can purchase downloads of songs on friends’ playlists. MySpace and Facebook have classified ads where friends can sell to other friends.

“These offerings are only the beginning,” Ms. Williamson said.

Going to SXSWi? Lemme Have Your Info

If you're going to be going to SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX, and you'd like to connect, please just fill in your information below. I'll do my best to see you down there.

But if you really want to guarantee that you see me down there, check out my panel with our clients over at EA!

Outboxed! Boxee Forced To Drop Hulu Support

The two hottest words on Twitter right now are "Boxee" and "Hulu". Two words that didn't exist two years ago, but their on many people's lips right now.

Why?

Because as reported by TechCrunch, Hulu just pulled the plug on Boxee's (the uber-awesome free media center add-on for PCs, Macs, Linux, and Apple TV, and recipient of a nice recent write-up in the NYT) ability to stream Hulu content.

This is a move that perplexes me.

The only sense I can make from this is that content providers (to Hulu), believe that since Boxee enables streaming content (on-demand) on TVs, this will eat into consumption of the same programming (live) on TV, thereby putting a dent into ad revenue.

But Hulu already runs advertising on all this content. So what's the problem officer?

I get why Hulu would pull out of TV.com. That's a matter of pure competition. But Boxee's userbase is hardly large enough to compete with television in general. And ad revenue is still being generated from Hulu streams.

Is this an example of over-litgiousness? Is it Hulu caving into a C&D letter? Do these make my butt look big?

Share your thoughts in the comments.

**UPDATE** Here's the official Boxee Blog on the news.

** UPDATE 2** Peter Kafka at WSJ's AllThingsD weighs in with (a very valid) conspiracy theory involving the cable co's. (Maybe you were right after all Greg-in-the-comments).

Making The Brand. Social Media For The Long Haul.

I've got an offer for you that you can't refuse.

At Deep Focus, we always say that we’re about bringing brands closer to people — and people closer to each other. I don’t think you’ll find a better group of people than my friends Gary Vaynerchuk and Brian Morrissey (Digital Editor at Adweek) to explore that philosophy with. I’m proud to be sharing a stage with them at a discussion called, Making The Brand. Social Media For The Long Haul live at the Conde Nast building on Friday 2/13 at 11am. Here's the official description:

'Making the Brand: Social Media For the Long Haul' with Gary Vaynerchuk, Ian Schafer, and Brian Morrissey

Witness the fireworks in what's sure to be an insightful and fast-paced morning of strategies, tactics, tricks and tips as social media heavyweights, Gary Vaynerchuk, Host of WineLibrary.TV, and Ian Schafer, Founder/CEO of interactive marketing agency Deep Focus, "bring the "Thunder" and "Lightning" to a discussion of social media best practices for building, maintaining and sustaining your corporate brand. AdWeek's digital editor and notorious twitterer Brian Morrissey joins the discussion to lend journalistic insight and weight to the discussion, while renowned Wired.com NYC Bureau Chief John Adell moderates the action.

I PROMISE that this will not be boring. The energy levels (even for 11am) will be incredibly high.

Tickets are completely sold out for this event (they went in like, 15 minutes -- social media FTW!), but of course, this is the internet, so you can watch it in the space below -- LIVE. Once it's over, I'll also make sure the archived video is available too. And word on the street is that it will be totally clickable/hotspotted. Courtesy of Klickable.

Social Media Week NY: 'Making the Brand: Social Media For the Long Haul' from Panman Productions on Vimeo.

Here's a Picture of Me@TED

I'm learning so much here. These mosquitos are unstoppable, though.

Is Ticketmaster listening?

This isn't exactly what you would want a Twitter search yielding on your brand, is it?

Didn't think so.

Ticketmaster, are you listening?