It’s whimsical to guess what will be the media habits of today’s 10-year olds some ten years from now. New digital media continue to emerge but there’s no clearly defined development path. But we can follow the pathway as time, experience and creativity shape the answer.
     Back in February 2004 MySpace.com dominated the social networking scene. But powerful competition was poised to enter the arena! To name a few: Facebook, Jaiku and Twitter. Each offers a distinct focus upon social networking. Facebook, then, was restricted to members with e-mail addresses coming from a handful of Ivy League universities. Then, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder, gradually expanded to the general public.
     By November 2007, with an impressive following, Facebook launched an entirely new advertising solution. Reach the exact audience you want with relevant targeted ads. Sounds like Google but ads are placed within a personally created environment.
During May 2008, ComScore.com metrics confirmed that Facebook surpassed MySpace in worldwide unique visitors. Its fastest growing demographic is those 25 and older.
     Why join Facebook? Well, Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life. It’s easy and it’s fun! It’s amazing how fast you can connect with family and friends all over the world. It’s easy to share thoughts, pictures and even create video clips.
Patently, social networking sites harness the power of word-of-mouth recommendations. They add a fundamental corollary: Like social groups tend to shop alike.
     There's emerging evidence that mapping the online relationships among consumers – creating so-called social graphs – could be just as valuable as traditional targeting messages. But do birds of a feather really flock together?
     Consider real friends versus online friends. Hal Niedzviecki of Toronto, wrote about his experience throwing a “Facebook Party” for the New York Times Sunday Magazine. He invited his nearly 700 online friends to meet him at the neighborhood bar. Only one showed up.
     “However, there are benefits to maintaining a large network of friends”, said Nicole Ellison, an assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media at Michigan State University.  “People who are ‘weak ties’ (friends of friends) are more likely to be different from you and more likely to provide you with new information and different perspectives than your close friends,” she said.
     Ted McConnell is general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at Procter & Gamble. Speaking at the Cincinnati Ad Club’s Digital Hub Initiative, McConnell voiced a word of warning pointing to the drumbeat of complaints about social networks being unable to monetize their sites. “I have a reaction to that as a consumer advocate and an advertiser," McConnell said. "What in heaven's name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?”
     McConnell went on to apply a similar standard to the broader world of consumer-generated media. "I think when we call it ‘consumer-generated media,’ we're being predatory.” "Who said this is media? Media is something you can buy and sell. Media contains inventory. Media contains blank spaces. Consumers weren't trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize a girlfriend?" “While it's not a company policy, but rather a personal preference,” McConnell said, "I really don't want to buy any more banner ads on Facebook.”
My take? Simple. Wait and see. The consumer is always right.

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Jack G Hardy