“Passively” extracting data from user profiles on social networks has been a head-scratching issue for network owners and marketers alike. It typically makes users feel uncomfortable when targeted ads on social networks seemingly have to do with something that would only be known through their profile information, and such privacy issues make it difficult for advertisers to move beyond this obstacle.
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With the boom in social gaming on Facebook, one doesn’t have to look to far to see what revenue sources currently exist for virtual economies. Facebook is rapidly becoming a center of the virtual economy which is why we are seeing the rise of companies built around virtual transactions. Today, AdNectar released a white paper which discusses the state of branded gifting within social media.

Facebook has been selling virtual gifts for a while now but even Facebook is finding it to be a challenging pitch to large brands as it’s a non-traditional advertising model and companies don’t know how to account for virtual gift campaigns. Despite the uphill battle, Facebook is still launching a number of branding gifting campaigns including a current one for the Watchmen movie which just came out.
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