MySpace, My Sale

Social site MySpace.com is an up and coming player in retail sales. According to Hitwise, Google accounted for nearly 15 percent of all United States visits to their Shopping & Classifieds section. Yahoo was listed as second, but trailed Google by nearly 10 percent. However, Google may have a contender coming up from the rear of the pack.

by Kristina Knight

Six months ago, MySpace accounted for less than 2 percent of upstream visits to retail sites. In August the site accounted for 2.53 percent of upstream visits.

Bill Tancer, General Manager of Global Research at Hitwise said, "With the growth of MySpace ... online retailers should expand their focus beyond search to consider social networking sites."

And it isn't just retailers who may benefit. Authors are quickly jumping on the MySpace bandwagon, using the site to promote their upcoming releases. In the past, authors have used blogs to create an online presence, with MySpace they are learning how to make more sales at a faster pace.

Marty Kindall, a romance novelist, used MySpace to promote her first book. One of her links was to a favorite local radio show, where she was asked to appear.

These increased numbers for MySpace could point to a new trend of depending on social, blogging and podcasting sites as well as the traditional search engine methods to increase online presence.