Social networks are no longer simply the domain of highly IT literate individuals; they are now inhabited by the main stream population and even large companies. These networks have changed the way people communicate, and even make their buying decisions, increasingly relying on peer-to-peer recommendations from their worldwide network of contacts. Blogs and podcasts increasingly shape peoples opinions, reputations can be destroyed in an instance by poor reviews by individual consumers.

As a result of this trend, businesses are examining ways in which they can boost their online presence and engage with this new area of social recommendations. Sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Facebook are becoming a viable way of businesses communicating their message and managing their image, 73% of social network users in the UK have visited the personal page of a brand and 16% have gone on to have some form of dialogue with that company. Several organisations such as McDonalds, IBM, Ernst & Young and Toyota are using social networks, creating personal pages to help build there brand and even search for suitable employees.

The introduction of sites such as Second Life has taken online networking to new levels; individuals are now able to interact with each other through their own digital characters (Avatars). IBM has created a virtual island within Second Life where their staff and clients can meet, this not only provides them with a platform from which to manage their internet presence, it also allows them to bridge the gap between their globally dispersed staff.

Fact File

• 68% of social network users visit a site which their friend has viewed.
• Second Life has 7.5m users and nearly US$2m is spent in the network everyday.
• MySpace has more than 100m users and is the leading social network on the net. Rupert Murdoch paid around £333m for MySpace in July 2005
• 70% of users are willing to allow corporate advertising on their personal page, currently 10% of pages already have adverts.