The marketing attractions of Twitter, Facebook et al

Below, Social Media Article from brand-e biz.

Seriously social. More than half of US marketers are using social media for six hours or more each week, and nearly one in three invest 11 or more hours weekly in such platforms according to Social Media Examiner’s 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report
The major benefit of doing social media marketing is generating exposure for the business, an advantage indicated by 85% of all marketers surveyed for the report, followed by increasing traffic (63%) and building new business partnerships (56%).
And the top social media tools?
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs, in that order.
“Facebook is clearly a top winner,” the report says. “Only 4% of marketers surveyed do not plan to utilize Facebook. Second only to blogs, Facebook is an area where marketers feel they can achieve substantial results – 80% of B2Cs plan on increasing Facebook efforts [while] 85% of large businesses will also increase their Facebook activities.”
Ninety three percent of marketers are using Twitter and 70% plan on increasing their use of the network to further their marketing objectives. Eighty five percent of large businesses will be increasing their Twitter activities.
Some two thirds of marketers plan on increasing their use of blogs, Facebook, video/YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn. A significant 80% said they have no plans to utilize MySpace, or will reduce their efforts, fueling the rumors that MySpace is a shrinking network.