Like a lot of people, I shop on Amazon for books and buy digital music on iTunes or MSN Music and make my own mixes up. But I also love going to a book or music store, grabbing a coffee and chilling out to read a book or listen to music. Usually I walk away with a book or album. Borders was great for this and it's a shame that our local borders shut down taking away this oasis. I was beginning to wonder if online digital sales would wash away some quainter stores in long run.

Not sure. Today I walked in to the Starbucks in Bellevue Square and found they had refurbished the joint, turning some of the seating area into a music store. Apparently this is only one of four trial ventures in the USA. Not only did they have a basic selection of music in the store, but they also had kiosks where you could search for music, listen to it, and download the songs to burn on to a CD. Nine songs costs $8.97 and each additional song is $0.99.

I love this mixing of the "old" brick and mortar society with digitizing trends. I can get my coffee, and if I have time, I am pretty sure I will end up buying a new album every Saturday.

Not long ago, I remember discussing with tech purists why it was not good to display ads in user generated content and advertisers who were worried about displaying ads in such sites. Both objections were for very different reasons - the purists believed that ads would intrude on my identity and the advertisers believed that they could not control what context their ads would be seen in.

But when you look at business models available, only one company in one country has a substantially different model for mass revenue generation - Cyworld in Korea managed to get it's users to pay for content. Some companies charge for storage or premium features, but most Internet users now realize they can get free offerings so the market size is limited. Paying for stuff is simply not an option for large scale monetization in most countries. Advertising is.

But as this article alludes (though not in enough depth) the trick will be in having both standard ads that any advertiser can buy, and advertising products that uniquely take advantage of the social networking user experience to create something engaging for users and profitable for advertisers.

http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=19508&hed=Ads+On+Social+Nets+Booming#

Ads on Social Nets Booming

A new survey shows marketers are snapping up advertising inventory on social networks faster than expected.
November 1, 2006

U.S. marketers are now expected to spend $350 million in 2006, up 25 percent from a previous estimate. The amount that U.S. marketers will spend by 2010 is also up 16 percent to $2.2 billion, according to revised numbers. By 2010, social network ad spending will account for 8.5 percent of the $25.2 billion U.S. online advertising market.

This is an interesting initiative that Microsoft and Nike are funding. I met recently with folks from the United Nations to discuss the topic of refugees. Aside from a heartfelt desire to do more to help, I was taken by the story these people have to tell. I read so many blogs and the day to day stories that people tell. Many are inspiring, some are funny. They are a good read. But wouldn't you like to know what it's like in the day of a refugee. Not watch it on TV in a packaged documentary, but actually read in their own words what they are doing, thinking and feeling? What do they hope for, what makes their day?

It's tough getting Internet connections in the refugee camps, but we are working on that. But in the meantime, led some support by clicking on gadget and even adding it to your site. The organizers goal is to have nine million people link to the nine million site or to at least hit the counter. Go on, what have you got to lose? 

Link to ninemillion space