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Interesting findings and well interpreted Chris.
You hit upon something important when you mention data portability which, in Facebook's case, is Facebook Connect. As more and more sites add FBC it will become less relevant where the business is listed, as they will always have access to the Facebook user base.
For example, larger businesses may want to build their own social networks to interact with customers in a very specific way. Supporting FBC will mean that they can build a user base on their network from Facebook, where visiting users need only click a few buttons to use their FB identity on the retailer site. Those people are also prompted to bring their FB Friends over and post their activity back to FB as Newsfeed items.
Smaller businesses may not have their own socnets, but find a presence on a rating sites, for example, which could also use FBC to build a community that is tightly integrated with Facebook, with the same benefits.
In short, if you can't establish an effective presence on Facebook directly, it may not matter as long as you find a network which does work well for you which also supports Facebook Connect, so gives you access to the same audience.
Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
The challenge of relevance
Chris - thank you for mentioning our study. I think many companies are taking social media more seriously and trying to figure out creative and relevant ways to leverage the various platforms to engage customers. Having a fan page out alone there doesn't do much, and neglecting a page after it's set up in Facebook also sends a strong message that the connections aren't important. It will be especially challenging for brands that aren't well loved to begin with, but they need the right strategy and guidance.
Thanks again Chris!