BNXS

“Liking” is something that is so much linked to Facebook. But now there is a company that is including the “Like” feature which has nothing to do with Facebook. RadiumOne is introducing a “R1 Like Button” which users can click on if they like an ad. Liking the ad is important to RadiumOne as it gives the company information on what kind of ads a user prefers and then serves them with similar ads.

RadiumOne is an online ad network startup that is based in San Francisco. This is the company that was rebranded from gWallet and its main goal is to combine social with ad display. RadiumOne looks for data and uses the information to link consumers with relevant ads. Advertisers also have the option of including a share button which would allow viewers to share the ad on various social sites like Facebook, email and Twitter among others. This is an important feature because at times users would like to share an ad that they view as entertaining or useful to their friends. It also gives information on a user’s preference.

It seems like the trend of asking people to share their opinion on ads is on the increase. Although Radium One claims to be the first ad network that has this feature, Hulu, a video site poses the question “Is this add relevant to you?” on each commercial. The new feature may turn out to be very popular since it is showing promising results in its early stages. For instance the advertisements that are shared are showing that they have a 28 percent higher chance of being clicked by a viewer than those that are not shared. Further according to RadiumOne, of those viewers who “like” an ad, 32 percent of them visit an advertiser’s web page in five days of “liking” the ad.

Still, only time will tell whether users will adapt to the idea of “liking” ads in large numbers especially when they are not linked to the Facebook “Like”. The idea of “liking” really works in Facebook but in this case RadiumOne is venturing into a new area, publisher sites, where people may not be used to using a non Facebook “Like”. There are those who are of the opinion that the feature may not be popular among many users and so RadiumOne should consider offering incentives for it to work. Maybe the company should allow advertisers to give an incentive to “like an ad”. For example they could offer a discount at a retail shop for some goods or services.

In my opinion though this may work and get very many people to “like” an ad, it would also interfere with the data collection of what users really prefer. It is likely that in the event that an incentive is offered to “like” an advert, people would “like” it even if they the really like nothing about it. The ad network would then be left to place adverts that are less targeted and that may not achieve the goal of resulting into more sales because of data that is less reflective of users’ preferences.