Big Advertisers Cooling to Social Media, CNET's Caroline McCarthy

http://www.beet.tv/2008/12/the-trouble-wit.html


It was a big week in social media with news that Facebook and MySpace will allow their platforms to be integrated into other web sites.

While there is excitement about spreading social media outside of their destination sites, there is growing evidence that major advertisers are not comfortable with placing ads on these networks. Caroline McCarthy, the lead social media reporter at CNET News.com, reported on Wednesday that eMarketer had downgraded again its projections for advertising on social media.

The big interactive advertising Razorfish has new plans and a patent application to measure the effect of advertising in social media.

To understand the evolving business of social media, I interviewed Caroline earlier this week. This is the first of several interviews Kelsey and I did at the Mogulus studio in SoHo. Special thanks to the Mogulus crew for being such gracious hosts.

Update, 12/13: Here is a story in The New York Times about the problems of advertising and social media.

-- Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

Disclosure: CNET Networks is client of Plesser Holland public relations.