Clearspring in the News

Technology | Online Ads Come of Age, or Maybe Not

AOL's Kevin Conroy has emphasized the need for compelling ad delivery. (By Rick Maiman -- Bloomberg News)
By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 31, 2007; Page D01

The rise of social networks such as Facebook and wireless gadgets such as the iPhone has set off a small stampede of companies hoping to build on or replicate their success. Many are counting on advertising to pay the bills.

But will it work?

That's one of the big questions for 2008, local technology gurus say. Advertisers want results.

"Everyone thinks they're going to support their business with the advertising model," said Phil Bronner, a venture capitalist at Bethesda's Novak Biddle. "What people don't know about is how effective those things are."

So far, the best known local players have been busy building their platforms in anticipation that advertising dollars will follow.

Silver Spring-based Freewebs and McLean-based Clearspring, both makers of the little applications that sit on top of Web sites, are among the farthest along in the local Web 2.0 space. They're followed by a few smaller companies with experienced management, such as McLean's Mixx, a social news site founded by the former general manager of Yahoo News, and Columbia's CollectiveX, a site where people can create social networks.

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