For 2010, Coca-Cola has been identified by Interbrand Best Global Brands as the top brand for 11 straight years, bringing its brand value to more than US$70 million. Interbrand noted that the company was quick to adapt to social media, with more than 10 million fans in Facebook and almost 100,000 followers in Twitter.

Close second, third and fourth brands in the Interbrand list were IBM, Microsoft and Google, respectively. But using social media data and analytics tools, Alterian said Coca-Cola ranked only 24th as a social media brand.

As a social media brand, eBay beat other big technology brands such as Apple and Google which ranked second and third, respectively. Another online brand, Amazon, came in fifth, right after BlackBerry.

Alterian, which provides customer engagement solutions across different channels, said eBay topped the world's first 50 Top Brands in Social Media league table because it was a pioneer in engaging customers through the web. Even before Facebook and Twitter came along, eBay was already engaging customers through forums and does corporate blogging.