Now the whole world is in financial crisis and we can say that the Internet is in winter. “Web 2.0” was created and defined in a brainstorm in 2010 as the “platform”. Most of the websites still use ads to make money, because everyone thinks that the Internet is a great medium.

Is it true that the Internet is a great medium now? Well, at least I don’t think so. We can only say that the Internet was a great medium when Web 1.0 was very popular, since the core of Web 1.0 is “content”. Content matching is a really wonderful way to earn money and this has led to many successful internet corporations like Google, Yahoo, etc. to implement this idea. But now we are no longer in the Web 1.0 environment, we have to change. Some websites like Facebook use social ads and of course it is much better than traditional ones as users will pay more attention to social ads as they are related to website features.

Do you know why ads can help us make money? When you see an ad, you may be interested in this product or service. This mindset will then “ask” you to click on the ad to learn more about it. In the end, you can even buy this product or enjoy this service. But why do you get to see the right ads that match your interests so often? This is because when you search for something on the Internet, content matching will start working. Therefore, you can get the most attractive ads waiting for you to click on them.

However, on platforms, it’s quite different. While reading your friends’ profile on Facebook, you may be interested in talking with your friends or playing games with interesting applications. This is when people on Facebook place sidebar ads related to fan pages or apps. Personally, I think most users will be less interested in ads compared to using the platform. Therefore, selling private ads is not a good idea on social networking websites. It would be better if some of these platforms offer subscription plans that provide exclusive features that the free account does not have. For example, Flickr’s PRO account, which costs users $24.95 per year, allows users to upload unlimited images, store them, and access the original files.

I remember when CNN played videos on Facebook, which brought in tons of users to watch. CNN is working with television companies to promote their videos. So how do they promote? Traditionally, we can consider advertising our videos to get more viewers. But CNN is very smart. People came up with a very good idea: why not play the videos on popular websites directly? Ultimately, the CNN videos managed to attract thousands of clicks and users posted comments to give their thoughts and opinions on them.

Why is CNN able to successfully promote its products and services? The money is not important, the idea is the most important! That’s what’s new in Web 2.0.

After much consideration, I discovered that CNN was actually doing Channel Marketing. They used a channel of social networking websites. One of the advantages of the Internet is “instant” and making it known to more people means money! Using advertising is good, but it needs to match. Otherwise, many visitors can’t get the perfect ads and ignore them. Then you will lose the opportunity to earn money from these visitors. But using Channel Marketing is different. You don’t need to show anything to all users, all you need is to discover a channel and how to get more visitors without paying more.

Channel Marketing for Web 2.0 websites also benefits the website owner. Your pockets will get deeper as Channel Marketing can create value! Creating value means making money and they can do it by giving the channels.

After thinking more about this, I found that there are many channels that we can use and a part of them have been used before. For example, the use of search engine channels is called SEO, the use of video-sharing website channels is called Video-Marketing, and the use of commercial site channels is called e-Business.

Is the focus of Internet-Business moving away from advertisements and towards channels? Well, only time can tell the truth.