Facebook? Twitter? Microsoft tops social media use

A Twitter page is displayed on a laptop computer in Los Angeles October 13, 2009.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Twitter and Facebook are the bane of many bosses, but a new survey has found that employees at Microsoft Corp are the most social media-savvy in the world.

The survey, the first by sales and marketing contact database NetProspex, ranked the top 50 companies based on their social network membership, frequency of social media posts on Twitter and other blogs, and the friendliness or connectedness of a sample of employees for each organization.

The NetProspex Social Index was determined after an analysis of more than 100,000 business executives from the Fortune 1000 companies in the first quarter of 2010.

"This report shows that in today's business environment, employees throughout many of the country's largest corporations are using social networks," Gary Halliwell, CEO of NetProspex, said in a statement.

"This presents a new opportunity for sales and marketing prospecting and lead generation, as strategies adapt to encompass the landscape of social networks."

The survey found that almost half of companies analyzed have employees throughout their organization on social networking sites, with Microsoft leading the way.

Not surprisingly, the list was dominated by technology and software companies, while online retailers such as Amazon.com and eBay claimed two of the top five rankings.

Google and Walt Disney Corp rounded out the top 5, while Microsoft's rival Apple ranked number 10.

Microsoft's tech-savvy ranking comes almost a week after the company launched two new phones -- the Kin One and Kin Two -- aimed at the youth market and which will enable users to use Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts with ease.

(Writing by Miral Fahmy, editing by Jeremy Laurence)