A new report from brands and marketing agency Vitrue claims that Xbox was the fifth most discussed brand on social networking sites in 2008.

The company compiled its results by monitoring online conversations across a number of social networking sites, measuring the frequency in which a number of “blue-chip” brands appeared.

Apple’s iPhone was the top-ranking brand, with Xbox capturing fifth place. Sony came ninth, Microsoft 11th, Nintendo 14th and PlayStation 15th. Sega was the only publisher to make the top 100, claiming 72nd spot.

”The Vitrue 100 has been an interesting initiative for us, one where we are able to leverage our platform of technology and data to deliver insights,” Vitrue CEO Reggie Bradford stated. “A ranking like this begins to bring clarity and credibility to this emerging space. We know marketers need a way to measure success and create benchmarks to track their efforts over time, while our industry needs directional trends to help define who is doing well and who can do better engaging their consumers online.”

The Vitrue 100 Top Social Brands Top Ten of 2008 in full:
 
1. iPhone
2. CNN
3. Apple
4. Disney
5. Xbox
6. Starbucks
7. iPod
8. MTV
9. Sony
10. Dell

… and other notable entries include:
11. Microsoft
14. Nintendo
15. PlayStation
72. Sega