This Week, Social Media Sold Out and Became Social Marketing

It didn't take long for brand managers and manufacturers of all types to realize the opportunities afforded by social media. Almost as soon as each new platform appeared, corporations jumped on board, constructing MySpace sites, Facebook fan pages, Twitter accounts and more, all aimed at grabbing a bit more of a particular target market. Promotional saturation can be the kiss of death for a social media platform, turning it into a virtual mall, devoid of its original meaning to its traditional users. But little can be done to control the characteristics of a social media platform's users.