One Reason Why Social Networks are Prime for Viral Transmission

A 52-week average of industry search terms by Hitwise produced the Top Ten Most-Searched-For Brands of 2006, with MySpace topping the list.

We all knew that MySpace and Social Networking in general was hugely popular, but this data can serve to put into perspective just how grand this revolution is. MySpace has beaten several prominent Web brands - some of which have been players since the start of the Web revolution.

In comparing the other brands in this top ten, there is an important similarity between them that serves to highlight the prominence of Social Networking sites as optimal hosts for viral content. If you take a look at the rest of the top ten, you see brands that deal mainly, or at least in a large part with, utility. Sure, some of the sites feed a recreational need as well, but only MySpace does this exclusively.

And why is this important? Because when a user is on MySpace, they are less purpose-driven and therefore less likely to pass by these ads. Additionally, they already in a capacity to easily pass on the viral message. Not needing to launch another application or page also makes them that much more likely to take the valuable step of passing on the viral message.

And you don't have to put it up on MySpace. As MediaPost points out, the smaller communities actually make up for their smaller number of users by providing more valuable ones with higher engagement levels.

Google ads finding their way into social networking profiles

As reported by Mediapost, through a partnership with Dada.net, an italian-based social networking site, Google will be providing adsense-style content, and allowing users to make a little bit of money at the same time.

The "friend$" program allows users to sign up and host the advertising on their pages including blogs and profiles. They are then able to refer their friends to sign up and become of the project as well, then they make money on their friends ads to boot. They are promoting the content virally on a site that is already viral by nature... so how could they lose?

On that note, how long could it be before this type of partnership starts on the big two: MySpace and Facebook. Will it be allowed? And if so, would users take part?

With a large media conglomerate behind MySpace, and Facebook being more conservative in nature, it may be more likely to hit lesser known communities first. This is just one attempt to monetize the plethora of user-generated content on the net. This and other newer areas of the web continue to be explored by advertisers, and we will likely continue to see interesting developments in the near future.