Advertising and Social Networking Sites

According to TechDirt, it's common for companies to not know each and every place online where their advertisements appear. Advertisers are being to notice that their ads sometimes appear on profile pages for organizations or initiatives they oppose, and some are beginning to withdraw from sites featuring user-generated content.
This has not stopped the big media companies from buying up smaller social networking sites, according to Giga Om. He says that "This is a strategy not without risk. Big media companies have to leave the acquired, and their communities, alone."

Stumble Upon is an interesting take on social networking. Joshua Porter of Bokardo looks at Del.icio.us and feature creep in social web applications.

Online Publishing

Paul Kedrosky recently published a new graph from the Online Publishers Association (below). Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) is a not-for-profit industry trade organization dedicated to representing high-quality online content providers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. The OPA produces groundbreaking research into online advertising and media consumption, including an Internet Activity Index.

Yahoo! Right Media

Michael Walrath, Founder and CEO of Right Media on the recent Yahoo! acquisition:

Yahoo! has been a great partner to us, continually demonstrating its commitment to the Exchange and all that it stands for–openness, fairness, greater efficiency, value and opportunity–as a fundamental vehicle for driving our industry forward. Yahoo!’s acquisition of Right Media further validates all that our company and Exchange members have worked for, and it means a bigger part of the world will understand the value of that work. This is a true milestone for the Exchange community. Snippet from Right Media Blog.

In a move to compete with Google's ever-expanding advertising empire, Yahoo announced a $680 million deal of its own on Monday. The acquisition of Right Media is Yahoo's partial answer to Google's string of recent wins in online advertising. Snippet from Newsfactor.

Walrath, a graduate of the University of Richmond, founded Right Media in 2003 to transform the business of online advertising, leveling what has traditionally been an uneven playing field. He sees the industry moving towards more efficiency, transparency and accountability for every transaction.

The Right Media blog features interviews with web publishers such as Ulrich Tausend of gaming website NeoDelight, and Khayam Iftikhar of FreeOnlineGames.

Advertising Online Soars

According to the UK Times:

The internet will overtake radio by next year and become the world’s fourth-largest advertising medium, a year earlier than forecast.
Global spending on internet advertising increased from $18.7 billion in 2005 to $24.9 billion (£12.6 billion) last year, according to ZenithOptimedia, the media-buying agency.
Behavioural targeting, in which advertisers follow consumers’ internet use, is another growth area. Snippets from the Times Online