Search and Rescue...they are going to be (oops, are) BIG...

Two significant problems exist with most social media. The first problem is that marketers are actually the most interested people in having an exchange with you. I know, you might have 500 "friends" on FaceBook or MySpace, a loyal cadre of followers on your blog (even if they are 11 year olds), and gazillions of IM addresses. But the more people in your network, the more the marketers actually want a dialogue with you. Second problem - the whole web of social media is supported by the ad revenue model. Ultimately, the web will become one large advertisement as everybody seeks to monetize their content.

Consider this story about affiliate programs sending fake Twitter tweets filled with ads. This should not come as a surprise. Just when Twitter began to show some promise beyond "what I had for breakfast"...the advertisers took over. As a person who sometimes develops marketing strategy, I find some of these tactics in Web 2.0 unique, annoying, and sometimes creepy. But it provides some opportunites. I like to call it Search and Rescue. The search part has grown due to the challenges finding of information on the ever-growing Internet. Google? Yeah, still doing pretty well. Rescue is my term for all the technologies which save us from the creepy and annoying effects of the ad revenue model: spam filters, virus/worm checkers, ad blockers, identity protectors, widgets for FB and MySpace which limit ads, etc. I could decry all the annoying stuff created by the ad revenue model. Since this is my blog, I just might in the future. For now, I think I'm going to find some Search an Rescue stocks and try to capitalize...