Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Retailers looking to tie into the vast social network community are certainly connecting with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in every way possible. Facebook’s popularity is well known, but the most recent numbers from a Harvard University poll put some of the social utility’s numbers into a ludicrous area. For example, the survey found Facebook accounts belonging to literally 90 percent of four-year college students and 80 percent of all 18- to 29-year-olds. That compares with 31 percent and 24 percent, respectively, for Twitter accounts.

Think about it. The idea that 90 percent of any group—especially one as diverse as college students—would sign up for one company’s online service is pretty staggering. We’re not sure whether that’s more impressive than 80 percent of the absurdly diverse 18- to 29-year-olds, but both are staggering. And we haven’t seen any service cornering the market in a lot of years. For good or bad, it’s a little refreshing.