There are many differing opinions as to the impact – positive or negative – of social networks on other sites, and a couple of recent examples provide some insight from either side of the fence. One positive side there was the news from Cadbury’s that it was re-introducing the Wispa bar following an online campaign. According to Pixelblog, over 14,000 people signed up to the various ‘bring back Wispa’ Facebook groups.

HSBC was subject to a different type of campaign following its decision to scrap interest-free overdrafts for students leaving university this summer, and the bank has now abandoned its plan. At first glance it wouldn’t seem like there is an obvious link between chocolate bars and bank accounts, but the demographics of Facebook hold the key. The HSBC plans would have affected students and new graduates, who are currently Facebook’s core users. They are also the sort of people who are starting to get nostalgic about aspects of their childhood, from fondly remembered TV shows to their favourite sweets and chocolate bars.

Both of these examples nicely illustrate the increasing influence of social networks on brand owners. Facebook currently ranks 20th in terms of delivering traffic to retail websites. Four percent of people leaving Facebook go to a retailer - and this number has doubled during 2007. As graph below illustrates, the major UK banks are also receiving more traffic from Facebook.

As this second graph also shows, in addition to receiving traffic from social networks, the banks’ customers are also increasingly visiting social networks after doing their online banking. The challenge for banks, retailers and others is to ensure that this traffic is benefiting their brand, rather than harming it.

Robin Goad

Robin Goad is Research Director, Hitwise UK. This piece was originally published on Hitwise analyst blog here.