According to a research note published by Mark Mahaney, Director of Internet Research at Citigroup Investment Research, online retailers are looking at user-generated content and social networking sites as marketing platforms.

Mahaney attended the Shop.org 2006 Annual Summit in New York last week. Retailers have looked at user-generated content such as user reviews and blogs, but what was different at this show than other recent ecommerce shows, Mahaney said, was the explicit discussion of social networking sites like MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook as marketing platforms for retailers. Companies advertising on MySpace include Procter & Gamble (Old Spice) and State Farm.