Facebook and MySpace may reign supreme in North America, but we can't forget that they don't control every country in the world. Simply put, people from around the globe have different tastes and the major U.S. networks barely capture relevant market share in some countries. It's a big world out there and believe it or not, Facebook and MySpace don't own it.

Market research firm eMarketer has cut yet another ad spending estimate for 2009, and this time it's social networks. The social-network advertising industry is now pegged at $1.3 billion next year, down from $1.8 billion. For 2008, it's been lowered to $1.2 billion from $1.4 billion.

So far AOL's having a hard time proving doubters wrong. While Bebo is popular abroad, its 5.9 million US uniques in October were just a fraction of MySpace's 76 million and Facebook's 46 million. Worse, experimental social network advertising remains largely untrusted by Madision Avenue's clients, who we hear cut it first when budgets get tight as they have recently.

The CSC-hosted social network is a personalized 24x7 Internet site for product announcements, information exchange and collaboration between CSC and members of its P&C client community. WikonnecT runs on a Sun Microsystems infrastructure and includes blogs, polls and a feature to keep clients informed on new software products and developments. Users also may rate and provide feedback on CSC solutions, prioritize improvements and interact directly with CSC developers to reduce the cycle time for enhancements or responses to requests.

UpDown.com, the online community that allows young people to practice investing, announced today that it has registered its one hundred thousandth member. "The UpDown community has experienced tremendous growth during these tough economic times," said Michael Reich, CEO and co-founder of UpDown.com. "It's clear that UpDown.com's risk-free brokerage simulation and helpful stock analyses offer beginning investors a very valuable resource."

Benjamin Mestrallet, CEO and founder of eXo Platform, said the social networking needs of enterprises are "the same" as that of consumers--connecting colleagues and presenting an easy way for them to keep track of what other teammates and co-workers are doing in the organization.

However, social networking's place within enterprises has traditionally met with resistance because of concerns regarding security breaches and loss of productivity, said Mestrallet.
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The idea of being an "Internet celebrity" may carry a certain degree of cynicism with you, and that's cool. It's true that memes will come and go, but social media, video podcasting, and other tools have made the Internet an accessible and legitimate platform for individual success and notoriety. A huge stage exists for you to unleash your knowledge and passions to an eager audience.

Despite a flurry of announcements from social networks this week, digital media intelligence company, StrategyEye, today said ad agencies remain cautious about recommending social network advertising to their clients. “We have seen much progress in social network advertising since the beginning of this year, but the fact remains that much social network advertising is failing to engage users,” says Isabella Thomas, senior analyst with StrategyEye.

Netlog, the European social networking site with over 35 million members, has opened its translation and localisation capabilities to third-party developers. The sites renowned translation system allows almost instant translation into 23 languages. Netlog also announced it will give developers access to its "credits economy", offering developers an alternative for advertising revenues.

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Next time you think about posting naughty video clips or potentially incriminating personal details onto your social networking profile, take a moment to consider a new study that has found more than 20 percent of employers vet prospective employees by visiting their online social network pages.