Christian retailers have overwhelmingly embraced social networking services for their personal use and have adopted some of the popular tools for use in their stores, according to Christian Retailing's latest Vital Signs industry survey.

Nearly all retailers (92%) said that they have a personal Facebook account. Among them, 39% checked their "wall" multiple times each day, while another 28% did so daily. Slightly more than one in 10 posted an update to their personal Facebook page multiple times each day, 17% posted at least daily, and about a third (32%) said that they have a personal account but "seldom or never" use it.

Only two-thirds (63%) of Christian retailers had a Facebook page for their store. Of those who did, one in four updated their status "two or three times a month," nearly a third did so "seldom or never," and 21% posted updates to their store's Facebook page two or three times a week.

The number of retailers using a personal Facebook account was nearly equal to the number of suppliers and other non-retailers in our survey who use it (94%). Personal use of Twitter among retailers (33%) was somewhat lower than among non-retailers (46%).

Christian retailers believed by a 6-to-1 ratio that social networking technology is a "plus" in their lives. One in four said that tools such as Facebook have added "considerable" personal benefits. More than half of Christian retailers (55%) admitted having bought a book online in the previous 12 months—the same level as when the question was asked in March 2008.

Read more in the June issue of Christian Retailing.

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