Researchers in Australia have found that LinkedIn is the most popular social networking site among the country’s top businesses.

The findings, which came in the form of BRR Media’s yearly ASX200 Social Media Report, also showed that YouTube is the fastest growing of the platforms.

The research company looked at the top 200 firms on the Australian Securities Exchange and found that 58% regularly use business-focused LinkedIn, with most citing recruitment as the main reason for doing so.

While LinkedIn is way ahead in the race, the closest followers are Twitter, which is being used by 47% of businesses, YouTube at 46%, and Facebook at 45%.

The study has been carried out to provide a clear picture of the ways in which firms use different social media platforms.

Perhaps expectedly, the report found that approximately 120 of the companies asked said they have increased their use of social media over the last 12 months – this involves user numbers for YouTube, Twitter and Facebook all rising significantly since last year. YouTube, Google’s video-sharing site, saw the most significant usage increase, at 7%.

Interestingly, researchers did find that 22% of the companies questioned still have not started to use social media at all, despite its importance as part of building an online presence. James Marlay, director at BRR Media, expressed his shock, saying:

“There has been so much discussion about the importance of the mediums and the need to monitor that I was surprised that so many are still paying no attention.”

He went on to say that the surprising statistic could come down to a lack of understanding when it comes to social networking. He also said more could be done by businesses to show evidence of the positive effects sites like Facebook and Twitter can have on a business’ profits.

Graeme Parton

Graeme has experience creating content for online sources and for the radio, and at university he studied Multimedia Journalism.