Social media research

In advertizing, marketing, brand building there's been plenty of buzz about the role of social media - Facebook, mySpace, twitter etc. - with agencies making extravagant claims for its effectiveness, notably that still understanding RoI to mean 'return on investment' is yesterday's thinking and that the shakers and movers of the networked society construe RoI as 'Return on Interaction' + 'Return on Influence'. But is that all just hype? After all, the agencies are not only selling the goods and services they advertize; they're selling themselves too.
Well, here are the results of an interesting study:

The True Value of Social Media

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The research was conducted by the agency 22Squared. Their website provides some interesting insights into adverstizers' uses of social media, as well as an entertaining cautionary slideshow 'Social Media Catastrophes'. Well worth checking out.

The growth of advertizing spend on social media, as well as the potential risks, is documented in The Growing Risks of Social Media in the Insurance Journal.

This presentation from Lumension, whilst certainly selling a service also presents some useful data:

The Greatest Question Since the Meaning of Life: What is the ROI of Social Media

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Finally Businessworld's article 'How Not to Do It' on the 'deadly sins' of marketing via the social media.