• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 16, 2010

PowerReviews, which provides customer-review technology to retailers and ecommerce sites, has closed a third round of funding worth some $6 million, and led by existing investors Menlo Ventures and Tenaya Capital.

The company said the additional funding would be used to accelerate client acquisition efforts and product development.

PowerReviews' review features aim to keep potential customers from having to leave destination sites to find reviews elsewhere, such as Amazon.com.

Last March, eBay's ProStores, which is geared toward supporting customizable online stores for small and midsized businesses, tapped PowerReviews to let merchants populate their product pages with customer reviews.

PowerReviews, which officially debuted in 2007, has now raised more than $30 million. Other retailer clients include Ace Hardware, REI, Staples and Toys R Us.

Retailers and ecommerce sites can't seem to get enough of social technology. Indeed, five out of 10 social-media tools have been adopted by more than 50% percent of brands and retailers -- with the Facebook Fan Page leading the way at 86% -- according to a study released late last year by the e-tailing group.

The study found that three-fourths of respondents felt brands have accelerated their use of, and commitment to, community and social media in the past six months.

What's more, the e-tailing group discovered that the penetration of social media tools within brand and retailer organizations is extremely high, given the length of time these tools have been around.