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	631821	174802
2	Viacom	35	6	1159844	20579
3	Yahoo!	28	7	400586	12965
4	Adobe	25	6	37208	22480
5	Nokia	24	7	246304	7972
6	Microsoft	22	8	47868	350
6	Oracle	22	7	110780	6701
8	Reuters	21	7	324025	14
9	Dell	20	7	83	4867
10	Amazon	19	7	6394	175
10	General Electric	19	7	2311	253
12	eBay	18	6	28023	5697
13	American Express	17	6	4926	2499
14	Cisco	16	6	32347	142
14	Boeing	16	6	28035	337
14	Time-Warner	16	6	11425	320
14	Toyota	16	6	4215	205
14	Coca-Cola	16	6	4172	264
14	Hewlett Packard	16	6	4117	0
14	GM	16	6	3647	267
14	Wells Fargo	16	6	1225	70
14	Accenture	16	6	280	3
14	E.ON	16	6	29	0
14	Alcoa	16	6	24	2
25	News Corporation	14	5	18926	1490
26	Siemens	13	5	31176	44
26	Daimler	13	5	25565	304
26	Johnson & Johnson	13	5	18845	349
26	InBev	13	5	15981	136
26	EMC	13	5	12860	341
26	BASF	13	5	8579	18
26	McDonald's	13	5	7574	334
26	Nike	13	5	5075	330
26	Samsung	13	5	4322	17
26	BNP Paribas	13	5	3336	36
26	Deutsche Telekom	13	5	2444	14
26	Wal-Mart	13	5	2201	146
26	Arcelor Mittal	13	5	995	7
26	Telenor Group	13	5	662	3
26	Procter & Gamble	13	5	479	10
26	Chevron	13	5	347	15
26	Henkel	13	5	272	22
26	GlaxoSmithKline	13	5	101	16
26	Ericsson	13	5	58	0
26	IBM	13	5	17	0
26	Volvo	13	5	0	5
47	BBVA	11	4	21637	314
47	Telia Sonera	11	4	6630	76
47	Emerson Electric	11	4	6306	210
47	Swisscom	11	4	4136	33
47	Fedex	11	4	3353	74
47	France Telecom	11	4	2839	33
47	Kraft Foods	11	4	1573	33
47	Bank of America	11	4	977	29
47	Royal Bank of Canada	11	4	600	16
47	Cadbury Schweppes	11	4	480	22
47	Petro Canada	11	4	448	24
47	Johnson Controls	11	4	341	10
47	Centrica	11	4	320	0
47	Sony	11	4	310	2
47	Deutsche Bank	11	4	107	1
62	Berkshire Hathaway	8	3	16799	40
62	Telstra	8	3	431	7
62	Sygenta Inc.	8	3	36	0
62	Fiat	8	3	25	0
62	Aviva	8	3	19	0
67	Nissan	6	2	23955	213
68	ING	5	2	5149	38
68	ABB	5	2	214	2
68	Novo Nordisk	5	2	67	4
68	Unilever	5	2	28	0
68	Royal/Dutch Shell	5	2	10	0
73	Verizon Communications	0	0	3170	46
73	Renault	0	0	1660	46
73	Nestl�	0	0	31	1
73	SAP	0	0	8	0
73	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.