It’s amazing how services as simple as Facebook and Twitter have caused so much disruption. As the experts will tell you, the fundamentals of communication haven’t changed – social networks are just more platforms on which to communicate. So why the confusion? And is there a value in marketing on these platforms that has escaped other online avenues? The focus, when it comes to social network marketing, is on Twitter and Facebook as the two most prominent services in the space. But LinkedIn recently launched its advertising platform and is hinting at massive revenues that will no doubt add to its explosive growth since listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

Facebook has offered targeted advertising for some time and Twitter recently introduced its own model, where companies can pay to have tweets promoted to the top of search and trend results. These are referred to as ‘sponsored tweets’.