Social Media Standards Body Launched

In the US, around 25 agencies, advertisers and social media companies have joined forces to form the Social Media Advertising Council (SMAC), an industry association established to set the first standards for buying and measuring marketing in the medium.

SMAC says its goals are to create a common vocabulary, standard buying units and uniform measurement methods for marketing within social media.

As social network ad revenues hit an estimated $1.825bn in 2009, out of a total online advertising market of $30bn in the US, the new body says there is an urgent need among social media buyers and their clients to understand how to quantify and value engagement and exposure on social networks.

Tom Gerace, SMAC's Founding Chairman and CEO of social network Gather, comments: 'Brands are spending more and more of their media dollars on social networks. We now need standard buying units, methods of measurement, and a common understanding of what we mean when we say engagement on sites like Facebook, Myspace and Gather.'

Other committee members include representatives from Gartner, BzzAgent, Quantcast and MediaVest Worldwide.

The first formal SMAC Council meeting will be held on October 22. Companies interested in participating should contact Christine Baptiste at cbaptiste@gatherinc.com for further information.

Web site: www.smac.gather.com .