• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, October 1, 2007

You don’t have to be any kind of anthropologist to figure out advertising on Facebook, says Mike Murphy, vice president for media sales at the social networking site. “Social media shouldn’t be looked at as something that’s so complex — just different,” he says.

At an industry conference earlier this summer, Colleen DeCourcy, chief experience officer at JWT, suggested that agencies needed to hire more “digital anthropologists,” people who can apply the methods of cultural anthropology to understanding, interpreting and monetizing online social networks.

She predicted an influx of Internet-savvy young talent will transform the industry in the next two years. Murphy agrees agencies will benefit by hiring people who grew up with Web 2.0. But he adds that they shouldn’t be constrained by a perceived lack of expertise. “It’s really more thinking about how to become part of the conversation rather than interrupting it,” says Murphy of social media marketing.

Where once Facebook had trouble getting face time on Madison Avenue, Murphy now spends his days meeting with C-level agency executives. “As of late, I’ve noticed agencies are making social media part of the planning practice,” he explains. “They’re getting better and better at looking beyond banners.”