On Friday, March 11, the whole world got familiar with the top 100 rating of brands building their value using the potential of social media. The survey was conducted by Headstream Consulting from November 2010 and over 3 months.

The point of the survey was to present a rating of brands based on their ability to connect with online communities using the power of social media and to define an image of social brand — the brand with personality that uses humane ways to reach its customers aiming to create value for people and communities.

The interesting thing is, 99% of the brands listed in the rating were most active on Twitter.

According to wallblog.co.uk, in the process of the survey, researchers had to analyze 30,000 tweets, posts, comments and likes. Afterwards the data were evaluated by an independent panel of experts and Brandwatch—the company that specializes in social media monitoring. As result, each brand was given a score, on the basis of which the rating was formed.

So, the top 10 social brands rating looks as follows:

1. Dell

2. Nike Plus

3. Starbucks

4. giffgaff

5. Best Buy UK

6. Zappos

7. Innocent

8. Groupon UK

9. Blendtec

10. Converse

Kirsty Weston, head of social communications at Headstream, comments on the rating: “We wanted to find out what really makes a brand social. The bad news for some is that we didn’t find a simple answer to this question because these brands engage in a diverse range of ways appropriate to their communities.  The best examples, however, do stand out for commercial gains they’ve made from good use of social».

To see all top 100 social media brands and get the key insights into what the social brands are like, please visit the official web-destination of the project at www.socialbrands100.com.