Why is it when MySpace churns to a stop (as it frequently does) that for a whole minute, while my browser waits for MySpace to decide if it’s too much trouble to actually serve the content I asked for, that nevertheless the adverts all appear. I know most of those ads originate off-site on different servers, but it still doesn’t seem fair, rather like getting stuck on the shopping channel, with only ads for comfort. And how come the ad companies can keep up with the traffic, but MySpace can’t?

Aside from these visible changes, there are more subtle evolutions taking place in cyberspace. This is exemplified in particular by the growth of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Flickr et al. These sites have millions of children and adults alike salivating at the potential to get themselves Out There, keep up with friends and ‘meet’ others with similar interests. I read recently in the Guardian newspaper that this is not, strictly, using the web to communicate (as one might by using a newsgroup, web blog or forum), so much as to ‘build relationships’, which made me wonder, considering all the stories you hear, quite who was doing the building and what sort of relationship were they after? This strange language being used by the social networking sector is actually familiar to me from my days with a brand development agency. We used to talk about ‘building relationships’ between brands and consumers – and actually, if you use any of the social networking sites, you will see immediately that all this is actually to do with the advertising. It is the advertisers who want to build relationships with the sites’ users, and the incredible monetary value of these sites is testament to how badly they want to do this and that it works, extremely well.

Marketing and advertising are both leading growth areas on the web, and as ever at the centre of the action, the latest US figures show that for the first time ever US companies spent more money advertising online than they did on print advertising. Considering how young this industry is (although in my thirties I feel a bit like a granddad sometimes) this is a strong indication of where business marketing will be focused over the coming decade. I see this already everyday. For example, small businesses seem to be deserting Yellow pages en masse, in favour of cheaper, more profitable marketing activities on the web. It makes sense for them not just because it is cheaper but because the web is now where most people look when they want to find a supplier, service or business. Indeed I don’t even know where my yellow pages directory is; and, I’m faintly surprised to discover (via a small informal poll I’ve just conducted), neither do any of my friends!

Fosse Way magazine’s “Ask the Expert” column, June 08.