LONDON--Two-thirds of FTSE 100 companies are "failing" on social media, according to a new report released today.

Sociagility's 'Social Media in the City' study, produced in association with the PRCA, assesses the corporate social media profiles of all FTSE 100 listed companies.

It concludes that a majority of companies are failing to engage effectively at a corporate level with social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. This puts those companies at a disadvantage, because the report also suggests a link between social media performance and share price movement.

Royal Dutch Shell comes out on top of the ranking, followed closely by AstraZeneca and, some distance behind, Sainsbury. There are some surprises in the results, notably the presence of B2B brands like Vedanta, ARM Holdings and BAE Systems in the top 20, and the finding that the highest-performing FTSE sectors are pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, followed by oil and gas producers

Retailers, unsurprisingly, also perform well, with four represented in the top 20. Only one bank - Barclays - makes the top 20 group, while the insurance sector scores well below the FTSE 100 average.

The study uses Sociagility's PRINT methodology, which it has previously applied to Olympic sponsors and global PR agencies. Performance scores were derived for each social network based on more than 50 public metrics and combined to create a Social Performance Index (SPI) and other rankings.

Sociagility also claims that its findings demonstrate a statistically significant correlation between a company's SPI score and its market capitalisation. They also note that a company's 'Receptiveness' score, one of the PRINT Index components, showed a positive correlation to share price movement during the month of November, when the study was conducted.

“Social media are playing an increasingly important part in the daily struggle for stakeholders’ confidence and support," said co-author and Sociagility principal Tony Burgess-Webb.

"How well a company engages is therefore a competitive issue internationally – both as a risk to be managed and an opportunity to gain advantage. This is as important for the C-suite as it is for corporate communications professionals.”

“The performance of the FTSE 100 companies shows that whilst some are doing well, almost everyone can do better," added PRCA director-general Francis Ingham. "We have now reached a time where social media must be seen as a fact of everyday life for companies communicating their message and managing their reputation.”