In a recent Adage article, using data from the research firm Hitwise, t was reported that Facebook now accounts for more referral traffic to some sites than Google. Facebook now has a confirmed number of registered users in the range of 200 million. Social networking has grown a whopping 93 percent since 2006; the amount of time people spend communicating online has increased from 18 to 32 percent of their total online time.[1] The actions performed in Facebook are shifting as well; users spend a good portion of their time on the newly redesigned newsfeed page, where they can quickly scan for status updates and user-recommended videos, products, and  articles. Similar streams in Twitter and FriendFeed are also becoming powerful recommendation engines. Further, the low click-through rate of banners on social media sites is even further below the already shockingly low industry average of .01%-.02%. These low results are primarily due to the highly focused activity performed by users on social media sites, and also explain why media placement companies have bluntly told me, “Social media does not work for online advertising.”

The numbers:

• Last fall, it was reported that 40 hours a month are spent online by the average internet user in North America.[2]

• Of those online, 75% are spending time in the social networking and social media space.[3]

• The the industry attributes a .1%-.2% click though rate on most web banners and that number drops further on social networking activity.

• Social networking has grown 93% since 2006.[1]

Now, let’s look at some of my anecdotal social media link click-through activity. According to mrtweet.com, a Twitter user recommendation site, I post an average of 42 tweets a day. 28 percent of my posts contain links; that’s about 12 links per day. I use Hootsuite to post links, as it enables me to measure the stats of those who actually click on the Hootsuite to post links, as it enables me to measure the stats of those who actually click on the links I post. Last week, I had a total of 1250 clicks[pretty graphs], either directly or through re-tweets[4], on 84 links. That gives me an average click-through rate of 7%. I have approximately 1200 followers, and there are hundreds of thousands of Twitter users with substantially more followers than me. With the growing number of Twitter users alone, recent rumours of the company’s acquisition by Google make sense. I post about half the number of links on Facebook as I do on Twitter, but can’t measure the click-throughs as Facebook currently lacks the requisite analytical tools. The total number of online social media users across the various platforms-Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Del.icio.us., etc.-provide a clear indication of where consumers spend their time, and why it’s important for companies and agencies to create content and campaigns that are viral-worthy.

So where does that leave the web banner? Should we abandon the staple that has given hope to so many web start-ups and sustained others? The answer is no; the web banner has its place in delivering brand presence and campaign messaging online. Perhaps if the web advertising industry had not hung its collective hat on CTR, this issue may not have seen so much back-peddling as there is today. The industry was so keen on proving its relevance in the web’s early days that it differentiated itself from other mediums through the highly measurable CTR. Unfortunately, what wasn’t considered were the lack of novelty and typically bad experiences users often associated with the click.

However, banners are still important in that we can track their impacts by measuring all customer impressions through comprehensive analytic tools. I believe it is all part of the mix, but the final destination of any campaign must be relevant and engaging enough to hold the attention of users, and contain content that will compel them to share it with others. Creative agencies play an important role in orchestrating compelling ad campaigns that customers can relate to, but ultimately, the method of directing viewers to those destinations is shifting from the once almighty banner ad, to the terrain of “the people’s media.”

[1] This, according to a survey conducted by Netpop, based on the 105 million U.S. broadband users.
[2] Comscore
[3] PEW Internet research, March 2009
[4] A re-tweet is when a Twitter user likes your post so much and recommends the link to their followers through the method of  what is called re-tweeting.