Web marketing and

the network effect

Digital natives

• Used to receiving info really fast• Parallel process and multi-task• Prefer random access (hypertext)• They function best when networked

scaling and power laws emerge in networks

links, links, links

• Small world network

• (Scale-free) network effect– Incremental growth– Preferential attachment

Network Effects – Background

• The phenomenon whereby the value of a network increases as a function of the number of participants and the value of the participations

• Common Examples: Telephones / IM / Email / wikis

All networks are not created equal

It’s not only about nodes, it’s also about ties

Friends are thieves of time (F. Bacon)

IM generation: “My mates are my media”

• Media (content) consumption is random and unstructured

• They claim that they are not influenced by advertising and that they trust their peers more than the opinion leaders

• IM’s appeal is rooted in connection and not in content

• Connections tend to be with people they know– At the very most, might extend to friends of friends– But very little interest in talking to strangers (unless they have

specific profiles)

Even on Facebook

• 90.6% of messages are sent to “friends”

• 50% of messages to friends are sent to schoolmates

• For reciprocal messages partners, it raises to 71%

Network effect and advertising

Advertise here!

There is nothing like word of mouth

“In recognition of the unprecedented Internet buzz for what had been a minor movie in their 2006 line-up, New Line

Cinema ordered five days of additional shooting”

• “Snakes on a Plane quickly became an Internet meme soon after Josh Friedman's blog entry and mentions on several Internet portals. The title inspired bloggers to create songs, apparel, poster art, pages of fan fiction, parody films, mock trailers, and even a poker game.”

Context

16

• We are in a world of “everything is

media”

• Interconnected people

• And connected devices

• It’s all about being relevant…

• In an infinite and non hierarchical

media landscape

• Without losing control

After 3 months, Visa saw some of their strongest engagement and brand results

Visa: Improving brand perception with 18-24 year olds

• 7 million consumers visited

• 19,000 submitted ideas

• 250,000 users voted for the winner

Getting brands into the heart of a conversation

Page 18 |

Windows Live Messenger users have been expressing their personnalities by downloading over 6 million custom display pictures, emoticons and backgrounds this year

And in the heart of the game – PUMA Messenger League

Lancé le 17 avril 2007 !

Objectif : prendre la vie du bon côté !

Talk to niches

But don’t forget to monitor

21

To read

• Read, read, read

• Comment... where it makes sense

• Track your comments– http://co.mments.com

– http://www.cocomment.com

And to engage

• Bloggers can feed the media narrative over time, don’t ignore the bloggers

• Traffic alone does not equal influence

• Don’t punish negative posts

• Outing a blog yourself helps but is not necessary – commenting is also part of the conversation

Take aways

• Use specific monitoring tools, it will help you in your communication strategy

• Keep the critical mass you need in mind

• There are niche networks and mass networks

• Know you target group’s network(s)

• Use existing networks instead of trying to create new ones

• Think user inititiated

Page 24 |

Thank you.

Philippe Deltenre

Microsoft Online Services Group

phdelt@microsoft.com

generalp28@hotmail.com