Social Networks - Deja Vu

Clarence Darrow, John Scopes’ attorney in “The Monkey Trials” once wrote, “History repeats itself. That’s one of the things wrong with history.” And it seems social networks are providing a déjà vu.

If you surfed the 'net in the early ’90s, you probably used AOL, Prodigy or CompuServe: subscription-based services providing email, storefronts, chatrooms and discussion boards. While these services established order for users, they discouraged connectivity across communities and to the broader Internet. Ultimately, the openness of the Internet rendered these “walled” portals obsolete.

Today, social networks like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn feel a lot like those bygone communities. Transferring contact information, preferences and content between sites is difficult. Contacts have to be in the same network to communicate. The Internet shouldn’t be this hard!

Turns out that email may be the solution. The email titans - Yahoo, Google, AOL and Microsoft - have discovered that the email infrastructure - address books, inboxes and calendars - may be the best social network around. When you consider that your inbox holds the who, what, where, when and why of your communication habits, it becomes the foundation of a robust social network.

So don’t be surprised at the coming battles over your inbox. Microsoft lawyers recently began sending cease-and-desist letters to start-up companies that allowed you to import your Hotmail contacts to their application. Of course, the issue was dismissed if those sites made Microsoft Messenger their exclusive instant messaging client. With over 300 million Hotmail accounts under its control, Microsoft is making a statement - we control your address book.

Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn can’t maintain their lofty market valuations without the significant page views that their closed systems perpetuate. So time will tell - can these new social networks maintain their exclusive domains, or will history again repeat itself?

Email ROI Tops the Charts...Again

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) released its annual evaluation of direct marketing channel performance and once again, Commercial Email topped the ROI chart in 2007.

ROI per Dollar of DM Advertising in 2007
Commercial Email $48.56
Internet Marketing (non-Email) $20.67
Direct Response Newspaper $16.99
Direct Mail (non-Catalog) $15.57
Insert Media $11.65
Direct Response Magazine $10.21
Direct Response Radio $8.64
Telemarketing $8.61
Direct Mail (Catalog) $7.22
Other $7.04
DRTV $6.87
Source: DMA - 2007

"When you combine the measurement capability of email with its low deployment costs, it's a fantastic medium for marketers to communicate with their customers, build relationships and deliver profitable sales results" says Nino Tarantino, CEO of Mercury Direct.

The DMA states that marketers spent $500 Million on email in 2007, driving over $23 Billion in sales. As more marketers become aware of the power of email to drive sales and build long-term relationships, there will be continuous growth in commercial email usage.