North Dartmouth, Mass.—The use of blogging for the first time has declined among Inc. 500 companies, according to new research from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

Among the 170 Inc. 500 companies polled by phone from September through November, 37% have a corporate blog, down from 50% in 2010. The study also revealed declines in the use of message boards, video blogging, podcasting and the MySpace social network, with increases in the use of Facebook (used by 74% of responding companies), LinkedIn (73%), Twitter (64%) and YouTube (45%).

The “2011 Inc. 500 Social Media Update” concluded that companies are shifting to more nimble, faster means of social marketing, instead of more time-consuming channels.