New research shows that podcasting and social media are important technologies at the fastest growing companies in the US.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research recently conducted one of the first statistically significant, longitudinal studies on the usage of social media in corporations.

Research Highlights:

• Four out of five companies in the Inc 500 rate social media technology as important or very important;
• 21% of the companies are podcasting and 39% blogging;
• The number of companies blogging and podcasting has doubled in the last year;
• The Inc. 500 are adopting new media technologies much quicker than Fortune 500 companies.

The research suggests that companies that are using social media & new media technologies are growing faster than other companies.

Here’s a breakdown of the social media technologies the Inc 500 are using:

The new study compares corporate adoption of social media between 2007 and 2008 by the Inc. 500, a list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies compiled annually by Inc. Magazine. The study revisits the Inc. 500 approximately one year later (using the 2007 list) in the first longitudinal study on corporate use of these new technologies.

Interesting stuff. Get the details at the U of M site.

via Marshall Kirkpatrick