David Kenny on Monetizing Social Network Data

David Kenny discusses the controversial issue of purchasing buyers' online habits.

Kenny:    The business model of social networks is still quite nascent.  I'm not so sure that selling information will work, unless they do it in a way that's not identified to the individual, because if you cross the privacy line, I think you're going to have a real problem delivering on the promise that made social networks work.  So, I think that maybe there's some patterns they can recognize, maybe there's some general information they can share, but I actually think what's going to be important for social networks is that they actually find the ad units that work in the environment. So they're helping us deliver the right messages to people who care about it and, more importantly, delivering creative that people can put on their own sites and share with their friends as a part of their own brand expression as individuals.  So I think the ad units I'm clear, but I don't think it's going to be as simple as monetizing the data.  I think we're going to have to create more value for the users than that.