Classmates.com Puts Link Ads in Profiles

NEW YORK As new social network giants MySpace and Facebook look for ad models that match their sharp growth trajectories, they might cast their eyes to the old kid on the block, Classmates.com.The decade-old site, which has been a social network before it was cool, is about to relaunch with a cleaner look and novel twist on contextual advertising. Its new "My Favorites" page will let its 40 million members create a profile of their interests in music, movies, books and travel—much like the profiles in other social networks. The ad innovation is a technology that automatically turns those lists into advertiser links, which direct to participating merchant sites.For instance, a visitor to a profile listing Shakira as a favorite artist could click on the listing to listen to the song for free, courtesy of RealNetworks' Rhapsody, which sponsors the section. The visitor would have the option to buy the song or subscribe to Rhapsody's Internet music service. Similar integrations link books to an Amazon.com purchase page, celebrities to stories in People and movies to Netflix. Each advertiser will appear as a sponsor, with a graphical ad, for their respective sections in My Favorites."The idea here is to try to give advertisers the opportunity to have their ads seamlessly and thematically alongside user-generated content to maximize its impact," said Mark Goldston, CEO of United Online, the Internet-services company that bought Classmates.com for $100 million in October 2004. "Typically, in the social networking community, advertising really looks like an interloper, almost like a sore thumb."This problem bedevils social networking sites, which despite their wide reach are not yet seen by advertisers as prime space for Web ads, particularly because users tend not to click on the banner ads there, according to agency executives. "It makes a lot more sense than traditional offers in banners that you see in some other social networks," said Andy Terentjev, general manager of business development at RealNetworks.Companies like Vibrant Media have systems that turn in-page content into advertiser links. Several sites, including IGN.com and TechNewsWorld.com, use Vibrant's IntelliTxt system to connect advertiser hyperlinks to certain words and phrases on a page.Goldston said the link-ad approach was more welcomed by users in testing, particularly compared to more intrusive advertising formats on their profile pages."This is where social networking is going," he said. "At end of day, social networks cannot exist if users are not monetized. Companies in social-networking business have to figure out how to monetize the users and figure out how to not alienate them but to add to experience."Classmates.com, which drew 12.9 million visitors in April, according to Nielsen//NetRatings, is also overhauling its site to cut down on ad clutter. Rather than up to nine ad units per page, the site will carry just one, an effort Goldston said would allow brand advertisers to stand out.

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Classmates.com Puts Link Ads in Profiles

Brian Morrissey

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