Cheezhead

Not to be totally outdone by Google’s deal with MySpace, MSN has partnered with college social-networking site Facebook.

With this deal, Microsoft could see its paid search revenues jump, predicted David Berkowitz, director of strategic planning for search engine marketing firm 360i. “It’s a critical deal for Microsoft,” Berkowitz said. “It gets them more distribution, which is important for marketers. AdCenter’s been performing well–they have a lot of great targeting options, the technology has been great, they’ve been ramping up their distribution–but the big question is volume.”

For employers or job sites wanting to get in front of the college crowd - usually meaning entry level jobs and internships - MSN Search just became a lot more important. Facebook’s audience of .edu-only users is arguably more sophisticated than MySpace’s, which translates into better clicks.

So far, I’ve been pretty impressed with MSN’s AdCenter, particularly the demographic targeting. It doesn’t have the reach of AdWords, but with more deals like this, advertisers will take notice.

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