Here's the twist: You can't find the deal in any newspaper or magazine. It doesn't exist in print, only on Facebook.

That's a switch for corporations, seeking to advertise their wares.

'Digital couponing’ like Monday’s offer also allows companies to track how well their Facebook page is doing in attracting potential costumers.

“With social media, it’s hard to see how many people are visiting your site,” said Mr. Simonds. “When you give them a promotional code to bring when they go to the store, you know who’s been on your Facebook page.”

True to form, many of the technologies showcased during New York's annual Internet Week wowed, but what really generated attention were efforts to answer the $64,000 question: How do we measure the value of a Facebook fan, especially since Facebook is a dominant part of a marketer's toolkit?

Synapse, for instance, assigns the average value of a fan at $136.38, and Vitrue pegs the value of a Facebook fan at $3.60.

Synapse in the study:

Product spending -- Facebook fans spend, on average, $71.84 more than non-fans over a two-year period.
Loyalty (meaning ability to influence and promote brand loyalty within a target audience) -- Facebook fans are 28% more likely to continue using a brand than consumers who are not fans on Facebook.
Propensity to recommend -- 68% of fans are "very likely" to recommend a product to family and friends (as opposed to 28% of non-fans).
Brand affinity -- 81% of fans feel a connection to the brand (versus only 39% of non-fans).

David Armano, senior VP, Edelman Digital, observed in a session on Facebook; we would do well to think of Facebook as part of a larger marketing "ecosystem" where there are practical and actionable set of measures like customer lifetime value, acquisition costs and sales.

There is a rising chorus of voices demanding a coordinated industry approach to metrics and methodology used in the measurement of social media that integrates the disparate trade organizations' efforts while introducing the best thinking from innovative companies like Synapse and Vitrue. This will allow the industry to come up with an accepted standard set of metrics that provide true actionability.

The move could potentially see MySpace music and video footage being shared on Facebook via its Connect platform, which allows people to log into third party sites using their Facebook ID.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, told The Telegraph: “Facebook is focussing on building the best technology which helps people share content, while at MySpace they are focussing on more a content-led strategy. We would like to have their content, as we already do with many other sites, shared across our network because it is good for our users.

When asked how the partnership could work, Ms Sandberg explained: “Hypothetically speaking, as nothing has been formally arranged yet, MySpace could become a Facebook Connect partner – which would allow people to share content they liked from MySpace with their Facebook network.”

Owen Van Natta, MySpace’s chief executive, formerly Facebook’s chief revenue officer, also confirmed the two companies are in talks. Since joining the company in April earlier this year, Mr Van Natta has refocused MySpace, moving it away from being a social networking platform which directly rivals Facebook.
He says the product is now “a platform where people socialise around content” and is aiming for MySpace to become the place where people find and share music, TV, films and games.