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With the economy taking a toll on even social-networking sites, eMarketer reduced its global forecast for advertising in the sector this year to $2.3 billion, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Social networks, on a worldwide basis, are expected to post advertising growth of 17 percent this year, compared with eMarketer's earlier projections of a 32 percent growth rate, the Journal noted.

The revised forecast follows a cut eMarketer made in December, rick wagoner when it reduced its U.S. projections for social-network advertising spending in 2009 to $1.3 billion.

That 2009 revision translated into a U.S. growth rate of 10.2 percent for social networks, compared with its earlier forecast of a 53 percent growth rate.

In some regards, the revised global forecast comes as no surprise, given that the United States accounts for a little more than half of the total advertising spending on social networks worldwide.