Ad:Tech Miami 2007- A Quick Look

Written by Pablo Palatnik on June 27, 2007

I’ve never attended an Ad:Tech conference before and I have to say I was quite surprised. I can’t really describe what I was expecting but what I found out attending the conference really shouldn’t be surprising.

Latin America and the Hispanic market took over the conference. Of course! It’s being held in Miami, Florida…how did I not expect that? CNNExpansion.com, UOL, Terra, Univision, and others sponsored the event.

I’ll be covering some of the panels in other blog post starting with Social Media in the Hispanic market which I thought was most interesting (to me at least) and hopefully I’ll make it back tomorrow.

It is definitely a great conference to attend if you’re interested in entering the Latin American or Hispanic space online (in Miami that is). In San Francisco it’s a bit different…More of a U.S. based market with many more affiliate networks, etc. Either way, a good experience if you can make it.

Stereotyping Facebook & Myspace

Written by Pablo Palatnik on June 26, 2007

“Danah Boyd, one of the most incisive researchers looking at societies on the web, has come up with a paper on the class structures of Facebook and MySpace. In essence, she says good middle class kids use Facebook, while the working classes use MySpace,” reports Bobbie Johnson. This report is actually getting a good amount of attention from the online media.

While it is interesting and I guess it’s something new to many people, the report doesn’t really tell us (atleast myself as an internet marketer, and she probably didn’t write it for us) anything new about the class divide and demographic with the social communities that make up Myspace & Facebook.

Here is the one major factor. FACEBOOK WAS CREATED FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS. Only recently has Facebook opened its doors to the general public to sign up. Give Facebook another year or so, watch the demographic become more Myspace-like.

“MySpace is about teenage rebellion; ugliness and defiantly folded arms. Facebook is much more popular among those of college age and older - it’s more grown up, and looking at it isn’t like pouring acid into your eyeballs… MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, “burnouts,” “alternative kids,” “art fags,” punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn’t play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn’t go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school,” says Johnson.

CAN YOU SAY… STEREOTYPE? There are literally MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of Myspace registered users, and that’s her demographic analysis of its users? Yes, that description fits part of what is the Myspace community, maybe a large part, maybe a small part…I can’t say for sure but the one thing about Myspace is that there’s no one set demographic…Myspace was the first online community to bring people of all cultures, race, and countries together.

Read More On This Story:

The class divide between Facebook and MySpace -Guardian Unlimited, UK
New study shows that perhaps Myspace really is for losers, after all -Shiny Media
Social sites reveal class divide -BBC News

Domain Market Remains Hot…A Bubble Waiting To Burst?

Written by Pablo Palatnik on June 25, 2007

In April, I wrote a blog post, “Domain Names Have Become True Commodities”. It’s now June and the market for Domain names is still rising in prices. It’s much like the housing market two years ago, not quite as hot and profitable yet, but there are a lot of people making serious money from domain names.

Duncan Reily of TechCrunch reports on the domain name market in his post, “Domain Sellers Party Like Its 1999”. The last time domain names were this hot was 1999-2000. It is now 2007 and the market is back. The announcement of Business.com on sale in the market has sparked major interest in not only web business aspect, but also the domain itself which I believe is a big part of its price tag estimated at around $300-$400 million dollars.

Reily reports, “Last week some $10million changed hands at auction for domain sales, with 16 domains being sold for 6 figures. Free Credit Check.com & Credit Check.com sold together for $3million, although as the DomainTools Blog points out this was at a relatively low multiple of around 7x yearly earnings. Seniors.com sold for $1.8 million and even Blogging.com raised $135,000. The exuberance in the market even extends to the spam infested .info domain, with Houston.info selling for $17,000.”

Many people who don’t follow the domain market, which is much like a real estate type of market, are wondering if they should hold on or sale their domains. “Ultimately it’s up to the market to decide the value of anything; however the domain sales market appears to be outperforming the established site marketplace,” reports Riley. Personally, I would put any domain you may have of value in the market now and see what the market would estimate it at.

Over $10M worth of domains sold in Moniker’s Live Auction last week in New York. Here is a list of some:

VintageAirplanes.com $5,700
StockTrades.com $25,000
PrivateTutors.com $16,000
TechnologyFund.com $10,000
Seniors.com $1,800,000
CreditCheck.com $3,000,000
JewishDeli.com $9,000
CarSales.com $400,000
Grandmothers.com $25,000
Lips.com $135,000
Houston.info $17,000
DUI.net $18,000

For a complete listing of the names sold (and not sold) offered at last weeks auction, visit: DomainNameWire.com.

Myspace Using Trojan Evolve Ads On Home Page

Written by Pablo Palatnik on June 22, 2007

I’ve had one comment and two emails telling me my post, “Fox Against Condoms But Ok On Myspace”, was me looking for condom ads to basically write the story and stick it to Fox since their ban of the commercial on their channels for being “graphic”.

Here you go guys…front page, TWO ADS for Trojan Evolve on the HOME PAGE. WOW! I have sent this over to Bill O’Reilly (he is the one that covered this story and would love to get his response to this). No response yet…will keep you posted.

Here is the screen shot when I went to the Myspace homepage a few minutes ago: