Sat in on a couple panels about social media at adTech NY and from the initial experiments discussed, including Cherry Coke and MySpace, Digitas and Delta, the momentum of social media (and, as such, ROI) is most definitely in effect. This concept of never-ending friending has spawned a new breed (or rather generation) of consumer...one that wants brands to befriend them, not market to them.

While it's obvious that these branded friendships can mean cha cha ching to a brand that executes effectively, not everyone has the brand cache or cool factor to be friended by 100K 20-somethings interested in building a personalized CherryCoke MySpace page. So how can other brands take advantage?

On another note, while the targeting opportunities on the social networks are massive, just what is the intent of the user interacting on a social network, versus elsewhere on the web?

Doc Searls post in early 06 talks about the Intention Economy and it seems that we have come full circle. We may have advanced to the point of being able to hyper-target Facebook users who are male, between the ages of 23-30 and located in San Diego, CA, but how do we know they all want a surfboard?

Looking at intent from a personal perspective, as a Facebook user, am I there to post comments on my friends page, upload new pictures, poke people, throw sheep at people or am I there to buy? Time will tell, but I have yet to go to a social network to ask a commerce related question or listen to my friends' recommendations on products or services. However, as the market evolves so too does user behavior...who would have thought I'd one day be sending my friends virtual champagne?