An international study released today suggests the Internet has become the major driver of decision-making among consumers and that its power isn't being taken advantage of adequately.

The Fleishman-Hillard report on digital influence surveyed countries representing nearly half of the online population and its findings point to some significant gaps and opportunities in the digital sphere.

Among them:

1. There is a funding gap. Companies aren't spending as much as they should on it to market.

2. The Internet is core to decision-making but not always treated as such by firms.

3. The oversharing of information is not only boring, the survey finds --- it's also a threat.

4. People will trust their friends online, but it helps if there are several of them asserting the same thing.

5. Sponsored bloggers aren't trusted and bloggers who can engage with companies trust those firms.

The report pays particular attention to the emerging China market, suggesting that the fastest-growing market is still in early adoption.

A new report from Borrell Associates indicates the growth of social network marketing will be ferocious in the years ahead. The question: Will it be properly applied?

This year about 11% of marketing spending will go to social networks. Borrell predicts that number will grow to one-third of such spending by 2015, representing $38 billion.

And the ratio of promotional spending compared to advertising spending across social networks will increase --- from about 1:3 today to about 1.75:1 by 2015. In other words, $1.75 in promotion will be spent for every dollar in advertising across social networks within five years, Borrell suggests.

Borrell notes, though, that it's difficult to measure the scope and effectiveness of such spending, and that firms use their social networks as a mass medium instead of one that needs targeting.

The International Newsmedia Marketing Association gathered last week in New York to look at industry trends and its executive director has posted what he thinks are seven key takeaways.

Earl Wilkinson has some surprises in store in his list:

1. Paid content is an important discussion, but not the whole discussion news organizations need to have.
2. The iPad isn't a killer application or device, but it is the start of something new.
3. The advertising business is smitten with social media over all else.
4. Advertising is a commodity buy.
5. Nuanced multimedia buys are emerging and timing is everything.
6. Perceived value can support pricing or be its downfall.
7. Commercial value is created by linking audience, content and platform, so it's necessary for CEOs to get it.

A new report on mobile marketing from the Borrell Associates firm indicates that the trajectory of mobile advertising will exceed what happened with television in the 1950s or the Internet in the 1990s. 

In other words, it will zoom. The initial action: Couponing.

"We view advertisers' growing love affair with coupons as a major key to the emergence of mobile marketing," the report released today says.

Redemption rates in the early stages of development are 10 times higher than rates of newspaper-clipped coupons.

Online marketing will increase by a compounded 13 per cent through 2014, but mobile marketing will grow at an annual rate of 84 per cent. Mobile advertising at a local level will double in each of the next few years.

Freddie Laker, the director of digital strategy at the Sapient agency, has an 11-point prediction on the shape of social media by 2012. None of the ideas he publishes in AdAge are particular surprises, but they offer a reasonable list on attributes we are likely to see develop over the next two years.

1. Privacy will decline.
2. Networks will decentralize.
3. Real-time search engines will be required.
4. Content aggregators will be the new lords.
5. Augmented reality will emerge.
6. Influencer marketing will be stronger.
7. Ratings will blossom.
8. Tools to manage customer expectations will be developed.
9. Google Wave will reach potential.
10. Marketers will need to create new online experiences.
11. Social media will simply be digital media by then.

A study being released this week at the One Young World conference in London aims to identify trends among young people.

Some of them worth noting:
1. Immediacy.
2. Local trumps global and is intense.
3. Transparency.
4. Cheap or free for most things, but will pay a lot for what they want.
5. Entertainment required in everything.
6. Environmental authenticity.
7. Not left-wing, just anti-multinational.
8. Media savvy, suspicious of bias.
9. Indulgent but aware of the value of altruism.

The next phase of America Online's foray into news involves a Google-like approach of using algorithms to maximize the impact of the generation and distribution of information.

"Rather than relying on editors and journalists deciding on what kinds of stories to run, AOL will employ a system that relies on a series of algorithms that will predict the kinds of stories, videos and photos that will have the greatest appeal to audiences and advertisers," the Guardian reports.

Data amassed from searches from AOL subscribers will be used. It will create more customized content for advertisers in the mix. And it will employ its new Seed.com service to help pay freelancers more and determine how their work can best be marketed.

The executive director of the International Newsmedia Marketing Association is a well-travelled observer of the thinking by executives and practitioners on the craft and business of journalism.

When he vents a little, it pays to pay attention, because Earl Wilkinson has had enough with the "digital Taliban" and the notion they want to help the newspaper industry find solutions. He believes they're largely mischief-makers who might have good intentions for journalism but have neither interest nor aptitude to build a business plan or help newspapers survive.

"The Digital Utopiasts want the Bottom-Line Guys to fail so a new order can be imposed on how people consume information," he writes.

On the other hand, he's also frustrated with the inertia inside newspapering and the lack of identification of new value propositions that might position the business for better times.

He's interested in the middle ground, using the parameters of the digital enthusiasts to help furnish passion in the pursuit of new newspaper goals.

"How are newspapers, magazines, and professional purveyors of deep rich journalism different than the emerging chorus of clever and low cost-amateurs that are legitimately contributing to the emerging map that governs our daily lives?

I ask these questions because newspapers need to publicly provide good reasons to fight on. Many publishers believe this is a silly exercise, yet in the absence of differentiating reasons newspapers are being defined by critics who want to slit our throats and take our wallets."

"Social media is a trend, not a fad," says marketing veteran Newt Barrett in his post on six principal reasons for businesses to engage in social media.

He has a fairly straightforward perspective:

1. Customers are using it for buying decisions.
2. News organizations are using it for gathering and distributing content.
3. Most smaller firms aren't using it, so you can gain an advantage.
4. Smart competitors are using it.
5. It is cost-effective.
6. Old systems aren't.

Risky or unproductive? "I suggest that the real risk is in waiting too long and being left in the dust."

The MBA Blogs from Business Week are a frequent source of good media observation. A new post argues that the way for companies to get media is to be media.

By that, it means creating a blog and hiring writers instead of creating a marketing budget and hiring an agency. It means breaking news instead of making it. It means writing about your targeted media list instead of waiting for them to target you.

To many newsrooms, the advice here might feel menacing.