MEDIA POST -- Mar 29 -- "We take a sociological approach to building MySpace, and advertisers need to be cultural anthropologists when they're thinking about their communications strategy on social networks," said Shawn Gold, SVP marketing for MySpace, during a keynote at the OMMA Hollywood Conference in LA. Kids on MySpace.com are looking to belong, and for discovery, access, self-expression, recognition, confidence-building, appreciation, and building knowledge. "We think that every feature on the site needs to tie in with these core needs." Gold mentioned ad programs with downloads, wallpapers, screensavers, AIM icons, slides, audio, and video. "Word-of-mouth has turned into citizen journalism as a trusted form of media....people don't come to social networks to click on the advertising." As of Tuesday, there were 66 million (98 million by year end) people on MySpace, with 230,000 people joining each day on average. 90% U.S. FULL ARTICLE @ MEDIA POST

Mark Brooks: I tried running off the shelf banners on Myspace in the past...what a dog! Myspace is all about empowerment. The advertising methods need to follow suit. Inspiring, empowering, interactive ads rule. Off the shelf doesn't work on that property, or any social network for that matter. Advertising as content is ultimately the best approach. The younger generation have had enough of push marketing.