On Facebook, there are over 60,000 fans who’ve declared their devotion to Cartier. Rolex is even bigger. While this social networking love affair certainly speaks well for the brand’s marketing efforts, it may not translate into so-called “social shopping” sales – at least not at the moment. That’s the verdict of a new study that looks into how the affluent demographic set uses social networks.

According to Unity Marketing, the affluent’s (defined as having an average income of $239,000) use of social networks has grown nearly five-fold since 2007, and even more so among young affluents. That’s the good news for luxury brands.

But eMarketer takes a closer look at the findings and shows that the rich use social networking sites mainly to stay in contact, have fun and share photos. Using social networks to glean product information or shopping tips from friends, family and acquaintances, meanwhile, falls at the bottom of their social networking behavior. And, they are not to keen to “friend” brands, the study shows.

Still, the authors point out that social shopping is a new retailing phenomenon, but growing, even among the super rich.