Advertising, Internet Based Networking Websites (IBNWs) and New Ventures

Abstract:

With the explosion of technology we are finding that our methods of communication are 

changing rapidly year to year. The way that we interact with each other from personal 

levels to more formal business is all being affected. With the birth of the internet we have 

seen continuous growth  of communication methods via this medium and most recently is 

the boom of the Internet Based Networking Websites (IBNWs) that allow the, over 

300million, users to interact with each other. Websites like Facebook, Linkedin, and 

Twitter are very good examples of IBNWs that provide great platforms for communicating 

messages and advertising companies regardless of where in the world they are. Geography 

is quickly becoming an obstacle of the past as IBNWs allow business to reach people based 

on their demographic rather then location. Through the use of IBNWs people can target, 

segment, and filter according to the people they wish to advertise to, all for free. This in 

turn is now having a huge impact on the advertising industry as ad agencies are being 

pressured to change their more traditional marketing structures to fit the modern 

environment, as people, especially young entrepreneurs, are finding a plethora of ways to 

advertise online for free. 

Because of this huge reshape of the advertising industry we have chosen to look in to how 

this all affects the entrepreneur and therefore have taken on the task of answering the 

question: 

How do IBNWs affect the process of advertising in the development of new ventures? 

In this thesis we delve in to the topic of modern advertising in relation to traditional forms 

of advertising (T.V, Radio, Print) to see how and in what ways IBNWs are having an 

impact of company start-ups. With the use of many authors and concepts we build a 

theoretical perspective to help us analyze the data retrieved from 10 entrepreneurs from 

around the world. The theoretical perspective is made of four key elements: Cost, Clutter, 

Interactivity, and Objectives of advertising. With a qualitative interpretivist approach we 

have constructed an in-depth case study that explores the development of 10 different 

ventures from the perspective of the entrepreneurs running them. However to aid us in our 

analysis and understanding of the industry of advertising and business development we 

interviewed the Chief Creative officer at Ogilvy&Mathers, and an Manager at International 

Venture Club.  

The final goal of the study is to generate an original framework for entrepreneurs in modern 

advertising. What we found was that due to the lack of resources by the entrepreneurs 

IBNWs provide a great cost effective method of reaching a large and relevant audience. 

Among other findings we found that IBNWs are a great starting point for all entrepreneurs 

in their process of advertising due to its cheap and easy to use platform. In conclusion we 

found that IBNWs do have a huge impact on the process of advertising in the development 

of new ventures.  

Keywords: IBNWs, Advertising, Cost, Clutter, Interactivity, Advertising Objectives