"Having Facebook as a new member is a clear indication that our initiatives regarding the value of understanding social media are resonating throughout every facet of our industry," Joel Rubinson, chief research officer at the ARF, said in a statement.
Other new members include Hasbro, Eli Lilly, Kimberly-Clark, Mars, Novartis, UBS, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, and Bain & Company. Ad agencies include Adcentricity, Butler/Till, Global Hue and M:30.
Cablevision heads a large Media group, including ABC Family and Disney Kids, Catalina Marketing, Fuse, National Cinemedia, PBS Kids Sprout, Rainbow Media and Tribune Media Net.
Representing research firms are ADISN, Centris, Ensequence, e-Rewards, IMMI, Market Tools, Opinion Lab, ORCA (Opinion Research Center of Afghanistan), Research Now, The Advanced Marketing & Media Group (The AMM Group), and ThinkVine Solutions.
Completing the new member group are Academic institutions Berkeley College, The Media Management & Transformation Center at Jonkoping University (Sweden), and The University at Albany (SUNY).--Gavin O'Malley