The New Frontier in Online Marketing: Social Networking Sites

Recently, online social networking site MySpace.com has been the target of an investigation by the Connecticut attorney general, described as a central player in an online pornography case, and called a “playground” for sexual predators.  However, MySpace’s recent purge of “objectionable” profiles, designed to make the site more attractive to advertisers, may be working as it, and other similar sites, enjoy increased commercial use.

An article posted this morning by E-Commerce Times reports that the use of online networking sites as marketing tools is becoming more popular, as an increasing number of people use the Internet to “strengthen social ties that they maintain in the offline world.”  The natural evolution of social networking to business generation has lead some businesses (like many bands and comedians before them) to use MySpace to attract customers.  This progression has also given rise to new professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, which businesses use to find independent contractors and recruit employees.