PBS MediaShift is beginning a new special series discussing an important topic of the Web 2.0 evolution: advertising. As discussed in class, we have moved past the traditional annoying pop-ups of banner ads and now enjoy user-friendly native advertising. Native advertising is different because it uses user preferences to attract attention rather than being obnoxious.
There are two main kinds of native advertising: Open and Closed.
Closed native advertising reflects the user-authored content similar to wikipedia, but can also be found on Facebook or Twitter. In this instance, the content is created on that closed website and promoted within the website. This can be helpful to advertisers in directing users who are accustomed or trust the closed website to the product. It also helps advertisers reach consumers who would otherwise never hear of the content.
Open native advertising still uses user preferences and compliments the website content it is on, but it is hosted on multiple types of platforms. It is closer to the classic online advertisement, but it’s advantage is that it is not limited to the closed website.
What I hope the PBS series documents is how we’re learning to love advertisements. Personally, I actually enjoy finding advertisements that compliment my online search experience.
Check out more at PBS.org:
http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2013/04/special-series-online-advertising-evolved091.html
Economic Theory of Networks at Temple University 