The mobile advertising game is an interesting one to watch.
While social media giants have for some time been battling for the upper hand to make the most of burgeoning mobile trends and achieve the greatest ROI from mobile advertising, Twitter’s recent acquisition of mobile ad exchange MoPub has put it safely at the forefront of the ad technology game.
The announcement has not only made an incredibly powerful statement of intent about its business trajectory but also explicitly illustrates where Twitter predicts the industry as a whole is going, playing into the current trends dominating adland. The fact that Facebook responded to the MoPub deal with its own mobile announcement, of a real-time conversation tracker, demonstrates that it’s worried about the impact that real time bidding is having on the social media landscape, and ultimately the monetising power that MoPub can offer. For the first time, and despite 41% of its advertising revenue coming from mobile devices, Facebook is now undoubtedly trailing in Twitter’s mobile wake.
In his announcement of the deal, Kevin Weil referenced that there are currently two major trends in the ad world – the rapid escalation of consumer mobile usage and the industry shift to programmatic buying – he could not be more right in noting these as significant catalysts which will change the face of the social media industry. Facebook may be the largest social network in the world, and a leader in providing interactive, rich media ads but when it comes to immediacy, Twitter has the upper-hand.
The demand for real-time information has never been higher, but much to Facebook’s dismay, Twitter has become the go-to, trustworthy platform for updates on global events. Social media is no longer purely about interaction with your friends. From general elections, to keeping up with X-Factor results, users want to find out what’s being said by their peers and influencers in real time. However, the launch of its real time conversation tracker clearly demonstrates that Facebook is aware that this is an area where it needs to overhaul its strategy and make a significant investment into to ensure it is not left behind.
Mobile activity is no longer an add-on
The integration of social media to support offline interests and activities has led to an uncompromising expectation of real time knowledge and communication. This sea-change in the way we interact with social media and the growth of popularity of mobile devices has led to a rich territory for mobile industry commentators. Mobile activity is no longer an add-on to the day-to-day lives of consumers, it is fully integrated – Facebook and Twitter are now ultimately conscious of this fact which is why both are now implementing mobile ad strategies which integrate, not interrupt.
The likes of Facebook and Twitter are constantly looking to insert themselves into its users’ changing behaviours, becoming an integral part of their daily habits, whilst meeting their increasing demands. Facebook and Twitter are two of a handful of companies who are capable of seamlessly weaving together use across multiple devices (for example a laptop, a smartphone and a tablet) which make the mobile experience all the more personal and engaging. Despite this seemingly level starting point, the MoPub deal has given Twitter the current edge – through the mobile ad exchange, it can not only thread together consumer’s cross-platform use, it can monetise patterns and ultimately achieve the highest level of subtle, real-time personalisation.
Has the hegemony of Facebook been toppled? Not in terms of users, but I’d suggest that they have some serious catching up to do to achieve the sort of real-time mobile engagement that Twitter is enjoying.
Dave Gwozdz, CEO of Mojiva