Facebook, MySpace Aren't Making The Marketing Cut

While chief marketing officers are intrigued by social networking sites Facebook and MySpace as potential marketing vehicles, actually using them is another matter, according to the results of a new survey.

More than one quarter (27%) of consumer and B-to-B chief marketing executives surveyed online in late October by GfK Roper Public Relations and Media for marketing services firm Epsilon identified social networking and word of mouth as the tools they would most like to introduce to their marketing mix to compensate for anticipated budget cuts--ahead of all other traditional or digital marketing channels.

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Social Networks Not Ready for Business?

Social networks like Facebook and MySpace have become enormously popular among consumers. But are businesses really prepared to embrace them?

Many businesses aren't ready to throw open their networks to Web 2.0 traffic unless it meets certain thresholds.

So what are these thresholds?

Social Networking Services Growing, Advertising Not So Much

The use of social networking sites will continue to grow, but advertising will not necessarily expand along with it, according to market research firm IDC.

Framingham, Mass.-based IDC says in a new study that social networks will face slow ad sales until they can get users to do more than just keep up with friends. That's because members of social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo tend to click on ads less than the U.S. Internet users overall.

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LinkedIn CEO Touts Growth Of Network

The San Francisco Chronicle sat down with LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye to discuss the professional social network's fortunes in 2008. At last count, LinkedIn was the fourth largest social networking site, behind MySpace, Facebook and Classmates.com. It is also the fourth fastest growing social network, according to the Chronicle report, behind Twitter, Tagged.com and Ning, with membership of 30 million. The private company is expected to rake in $100 million in ad revenue in 2008, up from $10 million at the end of 2006. In June, LinkedIn raised new capital valuing the firm at $1 billion.

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TIME's 10 Social Networking Apps

Time put together its year-end top ten list of social networking apps. If I wasn't too busy working on my top ten list of Dio duets I want to hear, I'd put together my own list.

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A Really Poor Use of Facebook Connect?

Over at Socialized, JC Penney gets ripped for its Facebook Connect application, which allows visitors to easily put their Facebook boyfriends (or anybody else) in the "Doghouse".

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Moms on 3 Major SocNets Call Profiles 'Extensions of Themselves'

Research from Lucid Marketing shows that Cafemom members have a much stronger affinity there than they do with Facebook and MySpace, that they are more likely to say they are "addicted" to their network of choice, and more apt to say they greatly value the connections, support and shared experiences with other moms they meet there.

Lucid also provides a free report: Social Media & Moms, ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS Edition

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