A study of social networking for Internet Retailer’s forthcoming Top 500 Guide shows that 56.8% of all retailers, or 284 companies, have a presence on the social networking site Facebook.com. Research conducted from late 2008 through early April also shows that 207 of Top 500 e-retailers, or 41.4%, have placed a video or are mentioned in one on online video community YouTube.com. A total of 143 Top 500 merchants, or 28.6%, are on MySpace.com and 102 – 20.4% – are linked to followers on Twitter.com.
Top 500 retailers also are identified with less prominent social networking sites. A total of 52, or 10.4%, have a presence on shopping-oriented Kaboodle.com; 19, or 3.8%, on ThisNext.com; and 27 – 5.4% – on fashion-slanted StyleHive.com.
Among the Top 100 e-retailers, 75 have a presence on Facebook, 48 on YouTube, 24 on MySpace, 21 on Twitter, 8 on StyleHive, 7 on Kaboodle and 1 on ThisNext.
For companies such as Target, No. 19 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, YouTube exposure includes free uploaded commercials, but also pay-per-click promotional videos. And online shoe retailer Zappos.com, No. 27, has an array of videos on YouTube, including commercials, warehouse scenes and company parties.
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