The latest Forrester forecast "... predicts that social media marketing spending in Europe will reach €3.2bn in 2017, up from €1.4bn in 2012 ... Forrester warns that the predicted growth is under threat of new European privacy legislation which it expects to take effect in 2016 and could cut the predicted social media marketing spending growth by more than €880m. James McDavid, researcher at Forrester, said: "The full extent and implementation of the European privacy legislation is as yet uncertain, and the fractured manner in which such directives are applied across various European countries means that compliance costs for marketers will rise." (Quoted from article)