It may seem like everyone and his brother is into social networking. But marketers aren't convinced that popularity will translate into effective promotion. At least, that's the conclusion of marketing research firm eMarketer, whose revised estimate of social-net advertising this year sees a 3% falloff from 2008's $1.2 billion to $1.1 billion in 2009. The drawdown seems even more notable given that
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It may seem like everyone and his brother is into social networking. But marketers aren't convinced that popularity will translate into effective promotion. ■ At least, that's the conclusion of marketing research firm eMarketer, whose revised estimate of social-net advertising this year sees a 3% falloff from 2008's $1.2 billion to $1.1 billion in 2009. The drawdown seems even more notable given that ad spending on Web communities such as Facebook and MySpace grew 129% in 2007 and 33% last year. ■ According to eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson, the biggest revenue problem resides with the biggest ad-spending recipient, MySpace. “They've fallen off a cliff in terms of unique visitors,” she says.
