FT ComMetrics Blog Index 2009

Just a few years ago, companies had hardly considered blogs as a viable option for corporate communication. Today, they are getting ever more attention. Some of it has been applied in the last six months.

This is the latest version of the FT ComMetrics Blog Index - FTCBI - we update it regularly. If you wish to have a look at the FTCBI that was published in the Financial Times please visit:

FT ComMetrics Blog Index - 2009-05-14

Rank	Company
1	Google	100	8	648882	163604
2	Viacom	34	6	1108773	15330
3	Adobe	26	6	34665	20867
4	Nokia	25	7	232959	7260
5	Reuters	24	7	529223	11
6	Microsoft	23	8	45075	348
6	Oracle	23	7	104305	6526
8	Yahoo!	21	7	22118	4419
8	Dell	21	7	69	4835
10	Amazon	19	7	5993	175
10	General Electric	19	7	2092	253
12	American Express	18	6	4057	2505
13	eBay	17	6	36152	1033
13	Cisco	17	6	28785	139
13	Boeing	17	6	26389	333
13	Time-Warner	17	6	11760	308
13	Toyota	17	6	4132	211
13	Coca-Cola	17	6	4100	269
13	GM	17	6	3872	263
20	Hewlett Packard	16	6	2981	0
20	Wells Fargo	16	6	1110	70
20	Accenture	16	6	285	3
20	E.ON	16	6	28	0
20	Alcoa	16	6	21	2
25	News Corporation	15	5	19392	1453
26	Siemens	14	5	34500	30
26	Daimler	14	5	25443	288
26	Johnson & Johnson	14	5	21245	348
26	InBev	14	5	15712	118
26	EMC	14	5	12762	367
26	BASF	14	5	10479	16
26	McDonald's	14	5	7853	334
26	Renault	14	5	6371	47
26	Samsung	14	5	4553	17
26	Nike	14	5	4233	330
26	BNP Paribas	14	5	2837	23
26	Deutsche Telekom	14	5	2492	14
26	Wal-Mart	14	5	2117	146
26	Arcelor Mittal	14	5	832	8
26	Telenor Group	14	5	628	3
26	Johnson Controls	14	5	338	9
26	Chevron	14	5	333	14
26	Procter & Gamble	14	5	324	10
26	Henkel	14	5	285	22
26	GlaxoSmithKline	14	5	110	17
26	Ericsson	14	5	65	0
26	IBM	14	5	20	0
26	Volvo	14	5	0	4
49	BBVA	11	4	19833	296
49	Telia Sonera	11	4	6266	81
49	Swisscom	11	4	5980	32
49	France Telecom	11	4	4477	33
49	Fedex	11	4	2830	68
49	Emerson Electric	11	4	2366	105
49	Kraft Foods	11	4	1481	30
49	Bank of America	11	4	1080	34
49	Royal Bank of Canada	11	4	546	15
49	Cadbury Schweppes	11	4	494	24
49	Petro Canada	11	4	432	24
49	Sony	11	4	339	2
49	Centrica	11	4	302	0
49	Deutsche Bank	11	4	99	1
49	Fiat	11	4	20	0
64	Berkshire Hathaway	8	3	16911	39
64	Telstra	8	3	416	7
64	Sygenta Inc.	8	3	35	0
64	Aviva	8	3	14	0
68	Nissan	6	2	21453	217
68	ING	6	2	4909	37
70	ABB	5	2	223	2
70	Novo Nordisk	5	2	54	3
70	Unilever	5	2	28	0
70	Royal/Dutch Shell	5	2	14	0
74	Verizon Communications	0	0	3088	47
74	Nestl�	0	0	23	1
74	SAP	0	0	8	0
74	UPS	0	0	0	0

Note. Some of the calculations used in this table draw upon publicly available information that has not been independently investigated by ComMetrics - a division of CyTRAP Labs GmbH. Other data were independently investigated and collected by ComMetrics. Rankings do not represent a guarantee of future performance for blogs.
In the case of several blogs from one company (e.g., Daimler, Dell, Google, Oracle and Wal-Mart), the highest ranking one is included in this list.Check out more about the methodology used and composite indices applied.
Blogs that require registration to gain access are NOT included in this list because gated communities do not follow the Internet's philosophy of making information freely and easily available to the public.
Methododology.
The FT ComMetrics Blog Index ranks the effectiveness of the corporate blogs of the top 75 companies from the US, Europe and the rest of the world listed on the FT Global 500 2008.
To create the table, the highest-scoring corporate blog is given a ComMetrics Footprint score of 100, and other scores are recalculated as a percentage in relation to that top score. The corporation with an overall score of 100 is therefore not necessarily top in every category; rather, it has accumulated the highest composite score.
To arrive at a corporation’s rank, we examine the data for each indicator and standardize the value for each about its mean using z-scores. All criteria are then aggregated and re-standardized. The following categories are used in the table of raw data.
● Google PageRank interprets web links and assigns a numerical weighting to each site.
● Technorati Authority analyses the number of links to a blog from other sites.
● Technorati Ranking rates blogs according to authority and popularity.
● Yahoo! InLinks monitors links to a blog.
● Google Blog Search is a search engine for blogs that produces lists of results, the
●ComMetrics Footprint is the rankings we calculate using the above indicators.

What will happen during the current economic downturn? Tough recessionary times would suggest that more emphasis should be placed on this effective communications medium. We'll keep you posted.

P.S. - Some would say that there are no good indicators other than a site's own unique visitor numbers and bounce rate. However, these measures are increasingly inaccurate when attempting to determine the value derived from non revenue-generating activities like blogging. Of course, the indicators and composite indices we provide above may not give you the whole truth and nothing but the truth either.

Thus, data do help demonstrate a trend and while the difference between 90 versus 120 backlinks may be real, it is not necessarily something to worry about. Still, if your backlinks dropped or your competitors' backlinks improved significantly within the last six months, then getting your social media budget approved probably just got more difficult. Unless you can show how this will help to move your blog up in the rankings.