I was pointed to an interesting read this morning by a good friend of mine. The article was published in the WSJ (Wall Street Journal) and it had to do with companies that are buying up domains (specifically generic domains) and monetizing them through advertising revenue. The main domain that was highlighted was www.flashgames.com which receives more than 200,000 visits monthly and simply provides people links of where to find or play flash games.

The reason I felt it was a good read was due to the fact it pinpoints something we are all interested in and that is the growth in spending of advertising dollars online. Enjoy the article!

I was reading my Forbes magazine a few months ago and they had an article on online communities and how they were the new wave for marketers. And I open my newest issue, May, and got to page 122 and wham there was another article outlining some of the corporate world online communities that are following suit from all the press of MySpace. The article goes on to talk about CarnivalConnections.com, NissanClub.com, and MyCoke.com. Then today I read here that Facebook is starting to expand into the corporate world giving large companies access to their own facebook area. So not only is Facebook going after colleges and highschools they may soon be targeting the companies that you work for.

What I really found interesting about the Forbes article is they outline that the Carnival Cruise Lines new “community” cost nearly $300,000 to setup and promote since the beginning of this year. They also claim the site has generated 13,000 members of which only 2,000 are active. After a little digging on my part I found that they really only have around 1,000 posts on the site. Maybe it’s just me but I think these big corporate giants really have no clue what they are doing when it comes to starting an online community.

I also find it interesting that most corporate sponsored communities don’t really have the freedom of the “independent” community owners. Just think about all the red tape that they have to jump through to add something to site. But they have one distinct advantage and that is money. Which brings me to another point, why wouldn’t these giant companies just buyout the existing communities in their respective niches or is this something that is coming in the very near future?

In the end I think we are all well ahead of the game and hope everyone keeps plugging along with their endeavors because it will payoff and maybe in the shorthaul!

Rex
CruiseLineForums.com

Software giant launches new social networking site, updates its Internet Explorer browser.

Microsoft said Tuesday it has created a new social networking technology company called Wallop and updated its Internet Explorer web browser, as the software giant seeks to expand its presence in the online market, where the company seems to be fast losing its relevance.

I don’t know about this, but what better way to market the latest and greatest in social networking than through your browser product. This leads to me asking the question of will Wallop be the latest and greatest in social networking or more of a Facebook / MySpace / De.licio.us close. Time will tell…

Google Network Revenues — Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $928 million, or 41% of total revenues. This is a 59% increase over network revenues of $584 million generated in the first quarter of 2005 and a 16% increase over fourth quarter 2005 revenues of $799 million.

That’s $309 million per month in gross AdSense revenues or roughly $10 million a day, every single day. Go Adsense!

I am definitely on board with the thought line and concept of Web 2.0. I believe it is going to more and more be about the individual being able to connect and communicate, interaction on multiple levels. Here are a few links of some very interesting reading:

Bubble 2.0 Part I

MySpace Removes Objectionable Content in Advertising Bid

Murdoch’s MySpace misunderstanding

MySpace - A Threat to Forum Growth