Age targeting on social networks is like sitting in a room with the lights out and everyone telling you who they are. You can determine some things, but the truth is often something else. So what do you do?

First, let's get one thing straight. Right now, when you talk about social network advertising, you are talking about MySpace. (eMarketer estimates that more than 64 percent of social network advertising in 2006 -- about $180 Million -- will have been done on MySpace.) Not all social networking sites are created equal, and the audiences on each of them are notoriously fickle and jaded to advertising. Their ad formats, and ways of reaching their audiences, all have to be leveraged somewhat differently.

That's the problem, and that's why I call bull$#@! on it. The industry has sprung up so fast with so many variants and so much funding that calling your site a social networking site has become the Web 2.0 version of the Web 1.0 "We're a portal."

Obfuscation
I was speaking to someone at an industry event not too long ago. They had just gotten into the industry, and they were going on and on about their advertising on MySpace. "It's so great. I can do age targeting!" Ah, such youthful enthusiasm. I was jealous in a way.
 
I paused and asked. "So, how is the age data gathered? Is it user-supplied data? Individuals who are inputting their own age? If so... how many are 16-year-olds saying they are 21? Boys between the ages of 12 and 16 that have their age set to 69? 35-year-olds saying they are 28? Get the idea?
 
That type of obfuscation is germane to the internet, but you can infer something from it. By age targeting a specific demo, are we ignoring those who are more tech-savvy and influential, not wanting to reveal their age, and setting it to 99? Or can we construct a program for targeting everyone who says they are 69 with a product that appeals to adolescent boys? Think. How can you adapt your marketing to take advantage of how consumers are gaming the systems, and therefore make your message more meaningful?