Surprise surprise…facebook has added advertisements in their pages! It was a long time coming and it finally arrived immediately after Microsoft buying a stake in Facebook. Enough of popularity curves…lets cash in!

But be it Facebook or any other Internet start up, advertisements in online application will never work the traditional way. The reason? People dont go to sites or subscriber to applications to see ads. The ads are a distraction, not a value addition. Hotmail made the same mistake. They added loads of advertisements in the ever popular Hotmail accounts….but no one seems interested to click those ads. The reason? People dont use applications to see or receive ads.

Do i need to repeat that again?

But what if we could use the principles of “Permission Marketing” here? What if we could register the subscriber while they apply for an Hotmail or Facebook account, and ask them if they are interested in receiving offer for new products, deals and gifts? Ok, maybe one in a million people will be willing. But that one will be a “willing” receipient., one whom you can easily reach, target and convert to sale in minimum cost. And that would give you more ROI (Return on Investment) than any other way.

Web 1.0 was a burst. Will Web 2.0 learn from the mistakes? Because quite clearly, traditional is not the way forward for Internet.