Social networking 'has commercial potential in 2008'

Social networking sites could be a useful source of revenue for internet marketers in 2008, it has been predicted.

Industry analyst E-consultancy makes the forecast in a round-up of the likely "digital trends" which will emerge over the course of the year.

A key aspect of social media is the ability to target users with specific demographic characteristics or lifestyles, the firm explains.

E-consultancy claims that in 2007 "advertising was partly held back due to the lack of standards recognised across the plethora of different social networking sites".

But in 2008, "marketers will place greater emphasis on how to monetise such sites".

Attempts to do so by social network Facebook are an indicator of this impending development, the analyst suggests.

Significant growth in advertising expenditure on such websites was recently predicted by eMarketer in its top ten forecasts for 2008.

This couples with anticipation from the firm that sites other than MySpace and Facebook are likely to play a greater role in the development of social networking sites in the coming months.