Social networks may have users in decline, but they’re still top of the radar for some brands and marketers.

Remember how last week I said that Twitter users were declining? Well, it isn’t all bad for the micro-blogging site – or any social networking site for that matter as marketers and agencies are definatley still interested. Why?

Well, Twitter is set to become the most popular word in the English language for 2009, according to the Global Language Monitor.

It has also come in second in Bing’s 10 most searched topics of 2009 list.

But just how important is the social network?

An agency in Australia called Community Engine is aiming to cash in on the phenomena of social networking by building internal networks that will integrate sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace for clients and brands.

Piers Hogarth-Scott, managing director of Community Engine, told The Australian newspaper, “While global social platforms such as Facebook are radically changing human communication, most organisations have little or no idea that they can build their own social networks to connect with their own communities.

“All organisations need to form direct relationships with their audiences, and social networking — when used properly — is one of the most powerful and effective ways of forming those relationships in the online era.”

By adapting internal social networks to work in tandem with popular public ones, businesses will be able to communicate with employees and customers, associations with members, politicians with constituents and charities with donors.

Obviously the Australian market is a little behind that of Europe and the US on the social networking front, but it’s still a good idea. Many marketers have said in various polls that while they would like to increase their spend on social media they are not quite sure how to do so.

The concept of being able to link internal social network systems with external ones is also attracting some big advertisers including Australia’s flagship airline Qantas.

The newspaper said that Community Engine is hoping to take its social networking applications global next year in a bid to capitalise on the $1.5 billion Web 2.0 application market.