In some ways, social media is grappling with the same issues free web-based email and chat sites faced a decade ago. Sites such as Hotmail also had registration data, an almost unlimited number of impressions, significant reach and a strong brand name. Yet the value of the inventory was questionable. No one was signing up to refinance their mortgage while they were reading their email. Similarly, advertisers on social media sites today face the quandary of reaching a highly dedicated, highly desirable audience that generally refuses to be distracted by advertiser entreaties. Social media sites were created to meet the social, cultural and intellectual needs of consumers, not to meet the demands of marketers. The very thing that makes social media a success is the same thing that hampers it from becoming an effective marketing platform.

Social media are not commerce plays from the consumer perspective, and only a small part of the spectrum of social media is directed toward purchasing research. There is no natural affinity between advertiser and content on most social media sites, (and this is particularly true for social networks) since consumers, quite simply, are busy doing other things. Additionally, advertising on these platforms tends to be justifiably non-intrusive. The solution to this problem is behavioral targeting.