Rapleaf was mentioned in yesterday’s BusinessWeek article discussing the resources companies are pouring  into studying the social graph as they begin to recognize the value of online friendships.

Just a few years ago, the primary business value of friends was for our personal use, including identifying new business opportunities, getting introduced to potential clients, and seeking advice from trusted sources. This has all changed recently as both academic and corporate researchers have started to find significant opportunity for businesses to profit from an individual’s friend connections.

With research showing that friends behave similarly, social graph data can deepen understanding about consumer behavior and preferences, which in turn can be used for targeted marketing and improving their experiences.  For example, if all your friends have iPhones, you are more likely to buy one as well.  Consequently, companies equipped with insight about your friends then use it to market the iPhone or related products to you. A credit-card company recently launched a campaign using Rapleaf’s social graph data. By incorporating friendship knowledge into credit card sign-up offers, the company’s conversion rate tripled!

As researchers, experts, and companies collect more social graph data and begin to identify the most-important variables, businesses will be able to discover more about their consumers and provide them with increasingly personalized and relevant experiences.

Click here for the full BusinessWeek article.

Related posts:

1. Rapleaf, Sun Microsystems Host First Social Graph Symposium to Explore Applications of Social Graph
2. Mashable Article: How Companies Are Using Social Media Data
3. Fact: Tweeting Does Not Affect Your Credit Score