Social networks boosting retail

Etailers in the UK are attracting an increasing amount of their new business from users of social networking sites including Facebook, Bebo and MySpace, according to new statistics from Hitwise.

The web analyst found that the amount of UK traffic retailers received from social networks increased by 153 per cent in the first nine months of 2007. In the month of September, 3.1 per cent of all visits to online retailers originated from the 25 largest UK social networks.

The results revealed that eBay was the biggest winner, receiving almost a third (31.4 per cent) of all shopping-related traffic originating from those websites, while department stores, clothing and media retailers also did well from social-networks.

Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise, said: "In terms of internet visits, social networking has grown by over 70 per cent in the UK since last Christmas, and it is starting to have a serious impact on many different types of website."

According to the Association of Technology Staffing Companies, online social networks are now considered by IT recruiters as more useful tools for finding prospective talent than adverts in print publications or internet banners.