The number of registered Facebook users in Poland has grown by 5 million in the past year, a new report shows.

According to the PBI/Gemius Megapanel, the number of Polish Facebook users in June 2009 stood at 1.3 million: a year later that number rocketed to 6.4 million in June 2010.

A number of Polish companies have started to use the social networking site as a means of marketing, with some firms having near 200,000 “fans” on Facebook.

“A faithful fan [on Facebook] is priceless, as the consumer wants to be a recipient of the company’s offer without having to be wooed by an advertising campaign,” the daily Puls Biznesu writes. “Better clients are hard to find.”

The top firm on Polish Facebook is French dairy manufacturer Danone, whose “Maly Glod” (Small Hunger) character advertises Danio yoghurts to the appeal of just under 180,000 fans (179,487 as of 20 September).

Polish companies such as postal services Paczkomaty 24/7 and clothing brand Cropp are also a hit on Polish Facebook, with around 177 thousand and 156 thousand fans respectively. (jb)