• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 31, 2009

Gary Stein, VP-strategy at Isobar, and moderator of the “Ins and Outs” of measuring social media panel at OMMA M&M is making some good points about the seminal nature of measuring the medium.

He said we still don’t even know what the goal is for many marketers to execute across social media, much less figured out a way to measure it.

For example, he said that at Isobar, they’ve come to the conclusion that the only value for a marketer on Twitter is a “re-tweet” â€" a phenomenon that happens when Twitter users re-tweet something broadcast on Twitter by a consumer brand. He likened it to a brand’s “fan page” on Facebook, and through it open to his panel for debate.

Blake Cahill, SVP-marketing at Visible Technologies, said grass roots efforts are percolating across the industry to develop some standards and guidelines. He specifically cited the Social Media Advertising Council, and Forrester Research.

“Now you’re going to have eight parties come to the table that will hopefully build into standards and people will develop API platforms,” he predicted.

Bill Stephenson, VP-social media sales & client service at Nielsen Online, said his company has already begun to take practical steps in that direction, including developing methods that marketers can use to look at “earned media” in the “context of GRPs, TRPs and impression.”

“That’s one way that Nielsen can help marketers relate social media to media they pay for,” he said.

Stein