Alloy Marketing & Media, an online publisher focusing on youth, has acquired high school social networking site Sconex for $8.7 million, reports ClickZ. The site will offer both display-ad and integrated-marketing opportunities - including sponsoring tools and content. Samantha Skey, SVP of strategic marketing at Alloy, expects to introduce branded elements such as photo-upload tools to the community site.

Sconex, which targets 14-18-year-olds, has sold ads via an in-house sales team and contextual ad networks AdBrite and Google AdSense. Alloy sites offer various ad units, including video and rich media formats.

In addition to its flagship alloy.com, Alloy sites include delias.com (for girls and young women); sports-focused ccs.com (boys and young males); and collegeclub.com and careersandcolleges.com. Alloy's offline marketing network reaches 60 percent of high schools in the U.S. through in-school billboards.