VENTUREBEAT — According to new research released Monday by eMarketer, U.S. advertisers will spend an estimated $1.7 billion in ads on social networks in 2010, accounting for 6.7 percent of all online ad spending. The dramatic rise -- with growth of 20 percent this year, accelerating to 24 percent next year -- shows why Google, the biggest player in online advertising, is finally taking the threat from social networks seriously, and Facebook is moving to protect its turf. The gradual economic recovery and the growing relevancy of social media in marketers’ mindshares is credited for the increase in spending...

EMARKETER — Social network advertising is getting renewed attention in 2010. The US’s gradual economic recovery, combined with marketers’ incessant focus on reaching consumers in social media, has led companies to make big increases in social network ad spending in the first half of 2010. eMarketer estimates US advertisers will spend $1.68 billion on social networking sites this year, a more than 20% increase over 2009. Spending will rise even further by 2011 to more than $2 billion...

TECHCRUNCH — A new study by ForeSee Results and the American Customer Satisfaction Index finds that U.S. consumers regard social media sites Facebook and Myspace as lowly as they regard cable providers, airlines and the I.R.S. The Annual E-Business Report for the A.C.S.I. study encompassed thirty online media brands in the categories of: portals and search engines, news and information sites and for the first time in July 2010, social media sites. Social media companies Facebook, Myspace, Wikipedia and YouTube were included for the first time this year, but achieved the worst "satisfaction" scores within the “e-business” group...

FORRESTER RESEARCH — Forrester's Social Technographics looks at how consumers approach social technologies -- not just the adoption of individual technologies. We group consumers into seven different categories of participation -- and participation at one level may or may not overlap with participation at other levels. We use the metaphor of a ladder to show this, with the rungs at the higher end of the ladder indicating a higher level of participation. You can find more background on Social Technographics and the concept behind it at our Groundswell blog. Overall, engagement with social activities has increased significantly in the past years...

MARKETINGPROFS — Frequent social networkers -- people who use social networking sites several times a day -- are more likely to follow brands, access their favorite social sites via mobile devices, and consume a wide variety of mobile technologies, according to a survey from Edison Research/Arbitron Internet. Such frequent users, which number 39 million in 2010 (up from 18 million a year earlier), are also avid consumers of on-demand media, such as timeshifted TV, podcasting, and online video, but they still watch less television than other adults, the study found. Below, other findings from the 18th Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Research Study...