Fathom: Having many fans does not mean that the brand has a good relationship with users

According to an analysis by Ignite Social Media in January 2012, MTV's Facebook fans reached 29.6 million on December 29, 2011, a 126% increase from December 28, 2010. Facebook still ranked first in 2011 with 57 million fans, an 83% increase from 2010. YouTube and coca-cola ranked second and third with 48.4 million and 36.5 million fans, respectively, an increase of 91% and 71%, respectively.

Disney and Starbucks, the former increased its fans by 92% to 29.8 million to reach fourth place, while the latter increased its fans by 40% to 26.5 million, ranking sixth.

The number of fans cannot be equated with the quality of relationships. Only two of the top five and less than half of the top 20 appear in the Fathom Research Relationship Quality Index (RQI) list on January 10, 2011. This ROI data assigns equal weight to four factors: number of fans, growth momentum, fan interaction and emotional quality. According to Fathorm's research, on January 10, 2012, the top five Facebook brand pages were Youtube, with a score of 91, followed by coca-cola (90), Reb Bull (86), Walmart (86), and iTunes (85).

Facebook, which has the largest number of fans, has an ROI score of only 71%, mainly due to its slow growth momentum and weak interaction.