• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 19, 2010

Nielsen Co. and Facebook have released the first in a planned series of studies about the social network's users, and the initial report finds that "socially-charged ads" boost campaign effectiveness by two- to threefold. The report -- the first to come from a multi-year alliance the two companies announced in September -- suggests that when "authentic social components" are added to conventional display advertising, they boost the relative effectiveness of those campaigns.

The report, "Advertising Effectiveness: Understanding the Value of a Social Media Impression," is based on six months of research, including 14 surveys conducted with more than 800,000 people on Facebook and more than 125 advertising campaigns from 70 brand advertisers.

The study shows that even a relatively small "lightweight endorsement" from Facebook friends can positively impact campaign effectiveness, boosting advertising recall by 1.6 times, increasing brand awareness two times, and growing purchase intent four times the normal rates of advertising effectiveness.

Jon Gibs, vice president of media analytics at Nielsen and the author of the new report, said the findings are evidence that social networks like Facebook can be used by marketers to "nurture brand advocates," but he said more research must be conducted before the industry understands the long-term impact on "paid media," a term the social media community uses to describe advertising.