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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