If you've been marooned on a desert island for the last 12 months you may not have heard of a website called Facebook. For the unenlightened, Facebook is a social networking website with more than 64 million members worldwide that lets people keep in touch with their friends and let them know what's happening in their lives in a very informal and unobtrusive manner. With such a large captive audience, particularly among younger age groups, businesses and organisations are beginning to realise the potential of this and other social networks for marketing purposes. Recently Wansford Associates has been approached by a local sports team and a youth charity about using Facebook to help promote brand awareness and a number of options have been proposed including setting up a Facebook page, integrating websites with Facebook and even developing unique Facebook Applications that supporters can add to their profiles. Social networks are on the rise and social media marketing can only increase in importance within the overall marketing strategy as time goes by.