Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions

Caroline Vogt - Head of International Research – EMEA & Americas

Social Networking

Social Networks are not new, but have only recently experienced explosive growth

80s 90s

CHAT ROOMS

1999 ‘02 ‘03 ‘04 ‘05

BLOGS

Web 1.0 Web 2.0

• Passive consumption of the Internet

• Presentation, logic and data are indistinguishable

• User-generated content/interactive

• User in control

• Internet as a platform of sharing & contributing to the content

Social Networking has always existed online (chat rooms forums, etc) but explodes with

the growth of Web 2.0 as users take control fully and begin to appropriate the language…

Source: Illuminas Research 2007

Social Networks now deliver on more personal and social needs

Early adopter

Mainstream

Social networking

SelfExpression Empowerment EntertainmentBehaviou

r& Needs

Communication

Connection

Source: Microsoft

Social Media?Social Media?

Particip

ation

Openness

Co

nn

ecte

dn

ess

Community

Conversation

Source: E-book from Spannerworks

Peripherals (friends of friends)

How social networking mimics group interaction

Belonging Exchange Support Recognition Expression

Gesture

s

Sentences

Broadcast

1-2-1 private

1-2-1 with audience

Fluidity

Core group Followers/ passives

Audience of strangers

Core group Leaders/ actives

Any one individual could be a different type of member in different groups

Amusement/ distraction

Source: Illuminas Research 2007

LANGUAGE & AUDIENCE

GROUPDYNAMICS

MOTIVATIONS

Networks have a mixture of close and loose connections

Users recognise there is a difference between “contacts” and “friends”

Source: Circuits of Cool – MTV/Microsoft 2007

“What people want is intimacy and friendship not just contacts. Being a name on a contact list is no different from

being a business card in a rolodex. Knowing who you can learn from is what matters and what social networks should

be about”Penny Power, Ecademy

In the UK, 14-24 year olds have an average of 84 contacts on their social

network

And were a member of 3 networks

The influence of the 3rd party audience

Source: Illuminas Research 2007

The presence of these audiences is vital to the success of social networking as a mass market medium

Makes communication less intimate and so makes people more ready to contribute (“safety in numbers”)

Has allowed the conventions of the medium to be learned much more quickly, accelerating the success of SN

Passive audience is the key to the recognition/ self-esteem function of the sites

BUT, there is also a feeling for some that control is being surrendered That others are posting photos of them and comments about them publiclyThough this is sometimes a driver of adoption - people want to hear what’s being

said

Social Networking enables both broadcast and narrowcast communications

Examples of functionality:

All Points Bulletin (APB) Status updatesProfile editing Adding photos Group membership

1-2-1 (or 2 or 3) with audience Wall posts Photo comments

Public gifts

‘give em’ fives/ love’ Group interaction

1-2-1 – two people interacting offline from the main group

Instant messenger Private message

Poke/ nudge

Private gifts

Source: Illuminas Research 2007

Social Networking mimics real life languageSocial networking sites allow users to communicate at a number of points along the

spectrum from simple, non-verbal gestures to full sentences

SentencesGestures

Real world

Social networking equivalents

Tone of voiceRhetoric

Logical argumentsFacial expressions

Body languageRhyme

Rhythm

Nudges

Pokes

Gifts

Status updates

Graffiti

E-mails

Source: Illuminas Research 2007

Exchanges – gossip to information

RationalEmotional GossipExperiences (live or recent)

ArrangementsIdeasDirections

Products and services

Brand advocacyArrangements

There’s no specific thing that we talk about…I’m online pretty much all day so whatever comes to

mind really…? (Female, 23)

I can’t think what we talk about…basically if we had to pay for it, we

wouldn’t say it (Female, 21)

Social networking sites enable the exchange of a range of intangiblesFrom emotional and experiential ‘narratives’To more rational forms of information and advice

Page 11

Photos is the most popular form of content to put

on personal pages amongst 14-24 year olds

Source: Circuits of Cool Microsoft/MTV Research 2007Note: Base=All those with a personal profile

What’s on Their Profile Page?

Social networking is like a night out . . .

. . . stretched in time

. . . and space

Who uses ‘social Who uses ‘social networks’?networks’?

User profile is much wider than some may imagine

Used to be / perceived to be:YoungNerdyPossibly introvert Single people trying to find a partnerNiche / weird – why would you do it?Fanatical/ obsessiveToo much information / peeping tom syndrome – invasive to read

Now more mainstream / less stigmaWider (ever widening) age profilePart of normal social life, rather than proxyMaintain memory of good times Method of keeping in touch with friends, old, current and newA ‘healthy’ creative process – developing page is considered a skill by many, rather than a waste of timeReading other peoples sites and info as a valid way to pass time – no peeping tom element to it

Internet users between the ages of 35–54 now account for 40.6% of the MySpace visitor base, an 8.6% increase since

2005 (Source: ComScore Media Matrix, 2006)

Snapshot of Current User Types

ATOMISED

•Use sites to retain fragmenting social

circle

•Very intense type of usage to

communicate, flirt, date, build up a

network

• Supports ‘friends become family’ phenomenon

characteristic of twenties/ early-

thirties/ urbanites, etc

PEER2PEER

•Peer driven - add contacts and friends as fast as they can

•Mainly teenagers

• Share photos of nights out, people

they meet, etc

•Use full range of site functionality

BROADCASTERS

•Primarily one-way ‘bulletins’

documenting personal information relating to

specific places and events they have

been part of

• One-to-one or other 2 way communication

is often secondary driver of use

MATURE NARROW-FOCUSED

•Social networking as a tool for a very

specific purposed rather than completely natural immersion in the Web 2.0 world

•More mature group (over 35)

Made up of sub groups:

• Curious Carers• Hobbyists

• Romance 2.0 • Business networkers

HAPPY EVENTERS

•Usage often driven by need to share

photos of a specific event like a wedding

or of children

•This may then spread to keeping in

touch with people in a similar situation

IMMERSIVE/ AT EASE

Source: Illuminas Research 2007

Page 16 |

Very brand-conscious – multiple images sent of Coke, Pepsi, Nokia, Levi’s

“I love this space, it’s my schoolmate’s. I’ll leave a reply as soon as she has updated it. I come here every day”

“I searched for materials to decorate my space”

Customises everything – her mobile, her landline, her WL Space, her PC desktop, etc

Maowei, 19 Maowei, 19, ShanghaiRegularly visits friends’ spaces to comment and talk. Searches net for additional ‘stuff’ for her own site

Ben, London

Source: Essential Research, Microsoft Social Networking Research Summer 2006

“For me, it’s more of a chance to show what I do, I like taking photos. Always liked doing it and never had an outlet before.”

Male Twentysomething

Connects real friends

Tells real stories

Going forward…

“Social networks need to have social relevance, otherwise they will eventually die. The open networks such as MySpace quickly lose social and critically, personal relevance as they are trying

to serve the needs of too many people. A network works in the long term when it focuses on the individual, and the network

develops based on contact-centric experiences that are completely focused on that individual, and are broadened out

to people who matter to the individual the most”. Moz Hussain, Windows Live Spaces Product Planner

INFORMATION ENTERTAINMENT

INFORMATION ENTERTAINMENT

CONNECTION/COMMUNITY

SELF EXPRESSION

Empowerment

Consumer empowerment will be at the centre

Source: Microsoft

What does this mean for brands?

New Landscape for Media Owners & Marketers

“Technology is shifting power away from the editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite.

Now it’s the people who are taking control.

“We’re looking at the ultimate opportunity,” Murdoch says. “The Internet is media’s golden age.” Rupert Murdoch, Wired Magazine July 2006

How brands can make use of the medium

Good Practice

• “Joining in” and using the sites in the way they are used by consumers

• Allowing negative as well as positive comments and inferences

• Giving people a reason to “view your profile” (i.e. letting them have something for nothing)

• Making ‘friends’ (and letting everyone know about them!)

• Co-operating and being inclusive

Bad practice

• Trying to be too controlling or precious with your brand

• Policing the site and attempting to portray only the positives - appears dishonest

• Expecting your brand alone to be enough to pull people in when it does not “communicate”

• Openly competing and try to put others down

• Trying to take charge and being exclusive

Social networking is like a language. Breaking the rules not only frustrates your attempts to be understood but makes you look foolish and out of place.

Branded Content can add to the experienceTo ensure maximum acceptance, ‘go with the flow’

Develop vehicles whichFacilitate/ exploit fluidity across members, how they communicate and

shareTo tap into motivations for involvement in Social Networking

Branded ‘gifts’Free gifts to send to people for particular emotional momentsE.g. enable people to send a to friends who are having a bad dayOr send a to a friend who has had some good news

9% have already added branded content

72% would if it was interesting or relevant

Source: Illuminas Research 2007; MetrixLab 2007

Rules of engagement

1. Understand consumer’s motivations for using social networks

2. Express yourself as a brand

3. Create and maintain good conversations

4. Empower participants

5. Indentify brand advocates

6. Behave like a social networker

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Web 2.0 and Beyond

Who owns the brand?

Authenticity is paramount

Conversational marketing

Things will happen more quickly

Consumers will shape the media plan

Blurring of ‘virtual’ and ‘real’

Thank you

cavogt@microsoft.com