I have written previously about finding the best way to monetise social networking sites without annoying the users and intruding on the social elements.
Myspace founder Chris DeWolfe today hinted (below) at a possible partnerhsip with Ebay as a way to allow its users to trade between themselves. This ties in with the reason social networking is such a growing phenomenon, user interaction. As I have mentioned in the past the key to monetising social networking is to not encroach on the basic model. through genrating a marketplace between users, through ebay or otherwise, and taking a percentage for transactions myspace will be able to earn a large chunk of cash without devalueing their offering. Expect to see other schemes like this appearing soon!
MySpace founder hints at future eBay partnershipby
Charlie McCathie Brand Republic 18-Jun-07, 14:10 LONDON –
Chris DeWolfe, founder of MySpace, has revealed that the site will soon offer user-generated e-commerce transactions through partnerships with online retailers, possibly including the internet auction site eBay. The move comes after several other commercial developments, such as the addition of a classifieds section and the option to buy and sell music via the site. MySpace uses banner advertising and click-throughs to brand profiles to generate revenue, amassing £12.6m each year, and the introduction of e-commerce is likely to generate even more profit. The social networking site is trying fend off the competition from Facebook, which had its traffic grow by 89% last year, compared with 34% growth at MySpace.DeWolfe said: “We will at some point offer user generated e-commerce transactions. So if you’re on your site and you have a line of T-shirts you have designed and you want to sell them to your friends, we want to be able to provide you with the tools you need to do that.”So we could partner certainly with someone like eBay to do that. We haven’t decided yet but it would be probably a good bet that someone like eBay could be a good partner.”DeWolfe also said that another burgeoning market being considered is online video advertising. He suggested that MySpace is currently muting the idea of introducing this element to the site, as it would “definitely be a huge revenue stream”.