SOCIAL media platforms are gaining ground in Singapore - and online industry players are encouraging marketers to make use of them.

Following agreement by agencies, publishers and re-sellers of digital advertising in Singapore, the local chapter of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) will be set up to promote investment in interactive advertising here and in the region, IAB spokesman Nick Fawbert said at the ad:tech Singapore conference yesterday.

IAB hopes the interactive industry will account for 20 per cent of all marketing expenditure by 2020. And much of the data right now seems to be in the trade association's favour.

A survey by Synovate, released in March, showed that 35 per cent of Asian youth aged between eight and 24 used the Internet more than a year earlier. And 25 per cent of them said 'they just couldn't live without the Internet'.

Another study, by OgilvyOne, found social networking and forums accounted for 10.2 per cent of all Internet visits by Singapore users.

Stanley Tay, general manager of online marketing firm PurpleClick Media, said his company has seen an increase in enquiries by local firms about advertising via online media platforms, especially Facebook.

Typically, these companies were trying to reach out to younger consumers, who were likely to spend a significant amount of time on social media sites.

However, some say the industry still has a fair way to go in Singapore.

Estimating that only one to 2 per cent of advertising spending here is on digital platforms, Ken Mandel, vice-president and managing director of Yahoo! South-east Asia, said Singapore could be the Asia-Pacific's digital advertising hub, 'but we do need to get those spends up to at least 10 per cent, which I'd say is the industry average.'

'Western markets are already approaching 20 (per cent), so that's one of the challenges I see for Singapore,' he said.

But some local entrepreneurs are undeterred.

Damon Widjaja, co-founder of Swoozh, which developed the Facebook game Famous Market Exchange (FAME), reckons that most of the game's 2,000 players are Singaporean. 'Opportunities for advertisers are immense, especially when aimed at the Internet generation,' he said.

What industry players seem to agree on is that investment in digital media advertising is important because the current Internet generation will inevitably grow up.

PurpleClick's Mr Tay said: 'The people who are currently using these social media will be our future leaders and future business decision makers, and it might be worthwhile to start investing in this audience base as early as possible.'