At least to members of social-networking sites, recommendations from friends and fellow users of social-networking sites now carry more sway than traditional media, a new study finds.

Peer recommendations now hold more influence over social-networking users than any other form of information. Moreover, as users of social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook spend more time there, they become resistant to traditional advertising, Internet Retailer reports, citing a study from Compete Inc.. Users join a social networking site to meet people (78 percent), be entertained (47 percent), learn something (38 percent) and influence others (23 percent), the study found.

Members' annual discretionary income is nearly $8,000 - 20 percent more than non-members'. Also, members spend nearly 25 percent of their disposable income on online purchases, vs. 17 percent for those who do not use social networking sites.

Consumer brand manufacturers are using six strategies to reach social-network members: branded microsites, customer reviews and ratings, online customer forums, peer-to-peer transactions, product-focused blogs and community-created products.