Infoserve Group

Whilst Twitter is taking the world by storm, and is the hottest topic on most people’s lips at the moment, whether - and how - we can ever “successfully monetise” social networking sites is the million dollar question. Literally.

I think this is one of the best explanations I’ve read recently about how powerful Twitter could be:

“Over the last couple months we have heard many different ideas on how Twitter can successfully monetise their surge in popularity, growing user base, and overall traffic. The ideas range from charging for an account, charging for premium accounts, simply adding Adsense, and the list goes on. What we haven’t heard is how Twitter could add local search into their business model, monetise it successfully, and create more user generated content.” [local search news]

What do you think? It seems wherever I turn at the moment, it’s Twitter this and Facebook that, but how can businesses ever judge the real effectiveness of an online presence?

Increased sales? Maybe. The usual indicator of a successful online campaign - measurable results from advertising - seems to fall a long way short on social network sites.

I’ve posted before about how effective social networking can be for businesses and I still not convinced how far it can go. After all, we aren’t there to search for something but be sociable, aren’t we? Will we ever find a way to engage with businesses and measure success via Twitter and Facebook the way we do through search engine advertising?

The internet has become a whole different world. We now have social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, social bookmarks sites like Delicious and Digg, video sharing sites, people are blogging, twittering… the list goes on.

Is this going to be the future for promoting yourself online? For SMEs only just catching on to the idea of having a website, yet again it may seem impossible to keep ahead of it all. What exactly does Web 2.0 mean and how does it affect you?

Web 2.0 describes the changing nature of the internet and how we are now sharing, developing and evolving the ways we interact – or put simply, it’s like a new version of the web.

The ways businesses are building their online presence is changing; they are interacting with consumers via social networking sites and sharing ideas rather than simply advertising their product to a blanket audience. What’s more, they’re doing this with an amazing number of people at the same time and generating conversations amongst consumers from across the world.

This blog has already begun to offer its opinions on all the changes, and no doubt will do so in the future, but advice for now is not to panic if Web 2.0 seems incomprehensible to you. You’re not alone. We’ll help break it down and its worth remembering that you shouldn’t forget the basics – the importance of local search, having a website, looking at the already proven and measurable ways of getting your message across - so make sure this is in place first before you take on the next hurdle.