And the breadth of Obama's contacts also has the potential to put to rest a division within Democratic ranks between the likes of former DNC Chairman Howard Dean, who advocated pursuing an ambitious "50-state strategy, " and those who wanted to focus on historically battleground states.

CNN: What will Obama do with his millions of online 'friends'?

And it comes as a growing number of e-commerce businesses are pursuing mergers, or operational cutbacks, to avoid joining the likes of Boo.com and eToys on the list of failed e-tailers.

BBC: Barclaycard ditches IndigoSquare