• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 2, 2010

Linda Gridley, President and CEO, Gridley & Company, just said something important on the OMMA Ad Nets "brand" panel. She said that the big game changer that some people in the online ad network biz may not be considering, is the impact social media is going to have.

"I am a believer that social is changing the game," she said, noting that social marketing tools are going to be the "key for going forward."

That's something that was highlighted by the Center for Media Research's just-released Ad Nets study, which found that social media networks are among the fastest growing areas of the online display marketplace from an advertiser and agency point of view.

That said, Gridley indicated that it's not so simple from a strategic planner's point of view.

"They're more confused than ever before," she said. "They don't know who's going to win and how the industry is going to consolidate itself."

Gridley