Translating real social connections into advertising was always going to be hard, this new report maybe baring this out.

A new study by Forrester Research found that maintaining a Facebook presence is less effective at drumming up business than plain old email newsletters or search ads. Companies interviewed for the study “received little benefits from Facebook,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Another recent study found that even print ads were better at fostering consumer engagement with brands than a Facebook page. Hundreds of thousands of people may “like” a brand’s Facebook page, but they don’t actually like it.

Maybe speaks more to the need for brands to innovate rather than just use the new tools in the same way as the old ones. Via Gawker