For all the hype and hoopla over Facebook in the last year, the overwhelming share of traffic still goes to Fox Interactive Media’s MySpace, according to the latest breakdown of social networks by Hitwise. Fox Interactive Media continues to struggle to make the social model work for advertisers, however, as the relative ineffectiveness of advertising in these spaces becomes conventional wisdom among buyers. There is loads of room for novel ad and content packaging that makes social media make better sense to ad buyers. eMarketer estimates that about $1.56 billion in ad spending will go into these venues in 2008, up from $920 million in 2007.

The Social Centers

Chart: Top 10 U.S. Social Media Sites and Online Communities (by market share of visits)

1. MySpace        41.50%
2. Facebook        8.29%
3. YouTube        7.39%
4. Craig’s List        2.81%
5. Yahoo! Answers    .99%
6. Yahoo! Groups    .94%
7. MySpace TV    .93%
8. Yahoo! member directory        .78%
9. myYearbook    .73%
10. Bebo        .67%

Source: Hitwise

Citing new research on its own base of 30 million social media users, ad services provider Lotame says that ad campaigns into user-generated content require much higher frequency caps in order to capture these users when they are ready to pay attention. Frequent visitors to blogs and network profile pages are so highly engaged in their posting and mailing activities during their first session they pay no attention to ads. During later sessions in a 24-hour cycle these same users are in a more passive mode that can respond well to the message. The company suggests media planners try to target the core influencers in a given social vertical but also hit them repeatedly, sometimes up to 17 times, with an ad.

Citing new research on its own base of 30 million social media users, ad services provider Lotame says that ad campaigns into user-generated content require much higher frequency caps in order to capture these users when they are ready to pay attention. Frequent visitors to blogs and network profile pages are so highly engaged in their posting and mailing activities during their first session they pay no attention to ads. During later sessions in a 24-hour cycle these same users are in a more passive mode that can respond well to the message. The company suggests media planners try to target the core influencers in a given social vertical but also hit them repeatedly, sometimes up to 17 times, with an ad.

You can stop wringing your hands over the “waning interest in social networks.” After a couple of months of decline that triggered gigabytes of speculation, the flagship sites in the category came back strong in March. Some argued that Facebook, for instance, had peaked as its meteoric rise f the past 18 months leveled off, but after 32.4 million uniques in February, the site grew to 35.5 uniques in March, according to comScore. MySpace, also too often discussed as a has-been, spiked to 72.7 million after three months in the 68 million user level. In fact, almost all social media enjoyed some kind of a come back as the winter wound down. Blog traffic at Blogger.com and Six Apart properties expanded their audience as well. Analyzing social media traffic patterns is a chancy exercise this early in the game. Given the accelerated growth in the category, it has been hard to detect any seasonal influences (school being in or out, etc) on activity at these sites. The long terms threat to social media is not boredom; it plugs into a basic human need that perpetually refreshes itself. The real threat is that the functions of social network will become baked into Web browsers, email clients and operating systems. The end game for social networks is not that one or two dominate the scene but that it becomes a feature, not a brand.