Social media network growth may be overhyped.

Nearly seven out of 10 senior media executives surveyed in December 2007 by AdMedia Partners said they thought so.

However, a majority of respondents said that growth predicted for mobile content, integrated ad networks and gaming was accurate.

Part of an overall study on media company M&A prospects for 2008, the findings were optimistic, at least in December.

“Eighty percent of respondents expect their own organizations to complete at least one media acquisition or divestiture in 2008,” said Mark M. Edmiston, managing director of AdMedia Partners.

Although buzz can be measured in some ways, hype is a subjective concept. Marketers preparing to use social media are not holding back because the tactic is getting too much press.

Still, social media networks are not used universally by most marketers yet.

A study conducted in the third quarter of 2007 by Coremetrics indicated that while the majority of responding marketing professionals were not planning to implement social media tactics in the next 12 months, about a fifth were.

About a quarter of those surveyed said they planned to use some type of user-generated content or blogs as marketing tactics.

Marketers have been more likely to engage consumers with Web sites or consumer feedback through social networking, according to a spring 2007 report from public relations agency Manning, Selvage & Lee conducted by PR Week and Millward Brown.

“Marketers who think that using a Web site or asking for consumer feedback on a Web site represents cutting-edge new media tactics are missing tremendous opportunities to build their brands,” said Mark Hass, global CEO of Manning Selvage & Lee.