IT Distance Learning News

Social media is struggling to make profit

It is becoming increasingly difficult for social networking sites to identify a source of income that would not have a negative impact on their members' loyalty, says an IT expert.

Don Davis, editor of Internet Retailer, said: "Making even subtle changes that would generate more revenue for the network operators is a tricky business".

This is due to the fact web users are sensitive to any alterations to the way they interact with social media, he added.

Those searching for a web design course may be interested to hear Mr Davis notes advertising on sites including Facebook and MySpace has not "generated exciting financial results to date".

In addition, such sites should "forget" about charging members for access as they would soon move to another network, he added.

Meanwhile, in the US, digital marketing firm comScore reports online retail spending totalled $30.2 billion (£18.2 billion) in the second quarter of 2009, a fall of one per cent from the same period last year.

Written by Neil Thomas