What happens on Twitter doesn't just stay there: Active Twitter users—those who use Twitter on a daily basis—are three times more likely than other online consumers to produce a wide range of influential online content (blog posts, articles, and product reviews) that affect a brand's reputation, according to a survey from ExactTarget and CoTweet.
Active Twitter users are more engaged than other online across a wide range of online activities, including the following:
- Publishing blogs: Active Twitter users are five times more likely than other consumers to publish a blog post on a monthly basis (72% vs. 14%).
- Writing product reviews: Active Twitter users are three times more likely than other consumers to write at least one product review monthly (61% vs. 20%).
- Publishing online articles: Active Twitter users are nearly six times more likely than other consumers to publish an online article on a monthly basis (56% vs. 10%).
Below, other findings from the report, Twitter X-Factors, which identifies the top motivations for following brands on Twitter and looks into consumers' expectations for interacting with brands online.
Twitter's Reach Goes Beyond Twitter
Twitter's reach is approximately double its active user base: 23% of surveyed online consumers read Tweets at least monthly, but only one-half of such consumers (12%) do so via a registered Twitter account, while 11% read other people's Tweets even though they haven't created a Twitter account of their own.
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Twitter's Silver Bullet: Brand Interaction
One out of five Twitter users (20%) say they have followed a brand in order to interact with the company. That interaction level is higher than among consumers who subscribe to brand emails (14%) or those who fan a brand on Facebook (13%).
Moreover, nine out of the 10 most common motivations for following a brand on Twitter involve consumers' desires to find information about that company. The top 2 of such motivations to follow a brand is to get updates on future products (38%) and stay informed about the company (32%).
Other key findings:
- Men are more than twice as likely as women to follow brands on Twitter in order to interact with that company (29% vs. 13%).
- Active Twitter users want to influence others: 28% say they want to get as many followers as possible, whereas just 14% of occasional Twitter users say the same.
- Among the 72% of active Twitter users who say they don't want to accumulate large audiences, 73% say they're very selective about whom they choose to follow.
About the data: Findings are based on a survey of 1,506 online consumers age 15+, April 9-13, 2010, and consumer interviews among 44 people in March 2010, conducted by ExactTarget and CoTweet.
