07.02.2009 — Consumers place little credence in product recommendations made on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and other social networking sites, according to a WorkPlace Media study (pdf).

The study finds that the opinions of a product brand for 96 percent of the respondents would not change if the brand has no social media presence.

And only 11 percent of social networking users actually follow a major brand through a social networking site. Just 12 percent say their opinion changes if that brand maintains a social networking presence.

WorkPlace Media says its survey respondents spend less than 30 minutes per day on social networking sites, while 55 percent have at least one social networking account.

"When it comes to influencing brand perception and purchase decisions, the data shows that social networking still has a long way to go," says Stephanie Molnar, CEO of WorkPlace Media. "Most of our meaningful recommendations continue to be old-fashioned, word of mouth recommendations from friends, co-workers, and/or family."

Other findings:

• Facebook is the clear winner with 89 percent of respondents having a Facebook account
• 40 percent have MySpace accounts, 31 percent are hooked into LinkedIn and 18 percent are on Twitter
• 89 percent of respondents say they use social networking to "stay connected to friends/family"

Of the 18 percent who act upon a product recommendation on a social networking site, only 15 percent have done so for a consumer electronics product.

A recent Harris Interactive poll (pdf) also shows that word-of-mouth marketing is much stronger than social networking. About 21 percent of the Harris poll respondents said they gathered information about a purchase through face-to-face interaction. Just 4 percent mentioned using social networking sites.