First of its kind research report on brand presence in networks

iCrossing, a global digital marketing agency, has published the results of its first Connected Brands Index, a first-of-its-kind research report which gauges the quality and performance of a brand's presence in networks.

Using the Connected Brands Scorecard, a diagnostic tool developed by iCrossing for clients, the Connected Brands Index ranks the Interbrand Best Global Brands against five categories - visible, useful, usable, desirable and engaged - to determine an overall "connectedness" score on a scale of one to 10.

The Scorecard consists of more than 65 data points across the five criteria, including presence and consumer engagement across social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube; unique visitors, inbound URLs, and consumer actions on corporate blogs, as well as an extensive review of each brand's website using a standardized review methodology.

iCrossing found that the brands that ranked well in Interbrand's analysis are not necessarily the most connected brands online:

Few of the analysed companies are truly connected brands: Of the top 10 Interbrand companies analyzed, only three (Google, Disney, Intel) had a score of five or better (out of 10). The average for all 10 companies was 4.83.

Brands are not engaging users: Brands scored lowest in the "engaged" category. The average score for "engaged" was 2.11, with only Google scoring above five.