The Product Red website was pushed to number one in its category after receiving support from social networking site MySpace.

Statistics released by web monitoring firm Hitwise reveal that a MySpace promotion for Product Red pushed the charity from number 73 to first place in the Hitwise Communities: Humanitarian category for the week ending 14 October. 

MySpace accounted for 89.5 per cent of upstream visits to Product Red last week, and MySpace Mail was the number two referrer, accounting for 3.83 per cent of website visits.

MySpace members received two emails from MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson, encouraging them to become friends of Product Red.

The email directed members to the Product Red MySpace profile which includes links to the charity’s website and other related pages.

Last week Product Red was the number 18 downstream website from MySpace. In terms of share of UK internet visits, it was the tenth most visited website overall.

Brands associated with Product Red are also benefiting from the MySpace promotion. Converse received 9.34 per cent of downstream visits from the site last week, Gap received 7.9 per cent, and American Express 2.16 per cent.

“Product Red is an example of an incredibly successful promotion on MySpace leveraging the power of a social network to rapidly reach a large network of consumers,” said Heather Hopkins, vice president of research at Hitwise UK.

“Brands are increasingly looking at social networks to engage with a younger audience. Product Red offers a best-practice example of how brands can engage with consumers in innovative ways online while contributing to a good cause.”

Apple announced a red version of its iPod nano earlier in the week to help raise funds for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa.

The iPod nano RED Special Edition is a 4GB model available worldwide at $199, of which $10 goes to the charity.

Popularity: 1%