“Consumers active on Twitter are clearly the most influential online,” said Morgan Stewart, principal, ExactTarget’s research and education group. “What happens on Twitter doesn’t stay on Twitter. While the number of active Twitter users is less than Facebook or email, the concentration of highly engaged and influential content creators is unrivaled–it’s become the gathering place for content creators whose influence spills over into every other corner of the internet.”

This survey of over 1,500 consumers identified top motivations for following brands with the leading reason being to actually get information from the brand they are connecting with. Companies employing high school interns to tweet “lolz, our brand rocks, yo” over and over will surely flop because a true consumer seeking information needs to connect with someone authorized to not only make decisions about disseminating information properly and in accordance to your corporate culture but needs to be able to manage crises and have instant access to everyone in the C-suite.

The study reinforces what we’ve been blogging about for years- consumers on Twitter and social networks have high expectations when interacting with brands online. Signing up for a Twitter account, slapping up a sexy background and syndicating your press releases to the account is not a social media strategy (unless you count colossal failure a strategy).

Our own studies show that active Twitter users are among the more invested in web properties and are likely to evangelize as well as criticize at a more rapid and vocal rate than average consumers.

Key results of the study:

• 72% of Twitter users blog at least monthly
• 70% comment on blogs
• 61% write at least one product review monthly
• 61% comment on news sites
• Daily Twitter users are six times more likely to publish articles, five times more likely to post blogs, seven times more likely to post to Wikis and three times more likely to post product reviews at least monthly compared to non-Twitter users

Twitter users are well informed and use the platform not just to be social but to garner information. They push their findings out onto their other networks. If your company is present effectively, a Twitter user should be able to connect with something you tweet- for example “we just got our first shipment of the fall line” should elicit responses such as “ooh when can we see it?” or “do you have pics?” or “I’ve been waiting forever!” or a simple retweet. If your Twitter account is a megaphone and lacks interaction however, you’ll hear crickets because people are not connected. If they can’t see behind the scenes of your company, they’ll have nothing to blog about regarding your brand and they won’t have a reason to interact.

• 23% of online consumers read Twitter updates at least monthly
• 11% of online consumers read Twitter updates, but do not have a Twitter account themselves
• 20% of consumers indicate they have followed a brand in order to interact with the company — more than become email subscribers or Facebook fans for the sake of interaction.

There is a misconception that the Twitter community is made up of Twitter users. As you see above, there is a segment (that I would argue is growing) of people that are simply referring to Twitter accounts to garner information, not necessarily to be social with or even to connect with. Twitter accounts show up in Google results, so we believe this behavior will rise with time. But the golden egg listed above is the third line- more people are seeking interaction on Twitter than via Facebook or email. For the few brands that can actually be personable and execute an effective Twitter strategy, there is a lot of market share to be grabbed up here!

• Men are more than twice as likely as women to follow brands on Twitter to interact with the company (29 percent compared to 13 percent)

This result is a clear indicator that before even opening the lid to your corporate laptop, you must know your target demographic. Before you set a strategy in motion, you must know who you’re reaching and what your goals are. If you simply jump on Twitter in hopes of striking it rich, you’re in for disappointment. Now, this stat doesn’t clearly indicate why there is such a disparity- it could be that men are more likely to follow anyone that follows them or that women are (which has been proven) more socially minded on Twitter, so they are not looking to interact with a logo. Again, knowing your demo is critical.

The bottom line is that Twitter offers a community of users that embrace brands rather than balk them and opportunities for branding, customer service management, sales and more are alive on Twitter despite the skepticism toward the platform. We’re no longer in a stage of contemplation as to whether or not Twitter “works.” It does. But the good news for you is that it is an easily abused platform with the majority of brands failing horribly. There is market share to be grabbed up.

My, how times have changed!

As a child of the 80s, living in a small town, I remember watching Mash with my grandparents and answering the rotary phone, “Hello, this is the Anglin residence” at age 3. Now, I have Twitter direct messages coming to my smartphone… my how times have changed! We wanted to share this infographic with you outlining the massive shift in advertising, but I would argue that it more clearly demonstrates a definite shift in communication. No longer are we limited by an ivory wall-mounted phone with the tangled cord, we are liberated to communicate in a number of ways.

This shift is a blessing in that individuals can reach each other more directly and readily yet it is a challenge for brands to be present in as many places as possible and by some, the shift is seen as a loss of control (no more can a mega company rely exclusively on their domination of the press and saturated print and tv advertising realms).

Communication shift

How has communication changed in YOUR world? What do you think of when you think of communication in 1980?

click image to enlarge, image courtesy of barcelonas chiringuito

click image to enlarge

The Internet is for Teeny Boppers

False. Take a few minutes to look at the data above and let me tell you why it’s interesting:

• 5% of people over age 62 create web content (blogs, podcasts, etc). That means that in a room of 20 people aged 62 or over, at least ONE posts content to the internet. Take that, you lil buggers!
• In a room of 17 senior citizens, at least one has joined a social network. Yeah, Grammy’s on Facebook too, y’all!
• So one of every nine seniors you know actually comment on blogs and post critiques and ratings. Makes sense, right? I mean who is more opinionated than Grandpa? YOU try adjusting the thermostat. Sheesh.

Tech savvy behavior is becoming mainstream. Or not.

Because I study social networking, I am immersed in a world of shiny and new and by the time some people adopt tools, I’ve used, abused and quit them by a few years so it’s easy for early adopters like me to take for granted how advanced others are. Here are some stats that surprised me:

• Only 30% of GenY and 19% of GenX create content. That seems so low, I had expected a much much much higher number as it seems so many bloggers are in this age range.
• No age group uses RSS readers at a rate over 18%. That means no generation is conditioned to use RSS over another. It also means that RSS is still totally underutilized (much to my surprise).
• 19% more GenYers than Young Teens join social networks. This implies that the highest rate of social networkers is in the college category which supports some theories and debunks others. This one will be a demo to watch closely, it WILL change over the next three years.

The landscape is changing

This same infographic will be different in the next several years and within a decade will be severely different; I predict much higher numbers of use in ALL age groups and believe the rate of most rapid growth will continue to be in the older age ranges as social media is no longer seen as a kid’s toy but rather a crucial marketing tool.

How do you think the web scene will change over the coming years?

I’ve been on Twitter for an crazy long time and for personal reasons, I had to change my account to a private account. As you know, when someone requests to follow me, I have to manually approve them which is great because I can be sure of who is *not* following me and no one can see my tweets in a public timeline or on a third party application because I’m private.

The problem is that it is an insane time sucker for me because I average 40 new follower requests each day and although from the approval panel I can allow them to follow by clicking “accept” or “decline” as shown below…

…I still have to click on each user’s name in order to follow them back. Yes, I am aware that I can take the extra step to click on the people that follow me and follow them from there but would it be too much to ask to add a third button that it seems you have space for called “follow”??

Why care?

I care because not only do I spend numerous hours daily engaging in social networks, I help others to do the same and any streamlining that can be done, especially with the uber popular Twitter network, it *has* to be pointed out. So please, Twitter, I beg of you to add the third button for those of us who have to be private. If you do, I’ll be your best friend. There, I said it.

Is Austin in the Top 10?

Popular social networking site Twitter.com allows users to indicate their location and although it doesn’t mandate what format you note your location (ex: Austin, TX can be North Austin or ATX or whatever), it does ask where you are. Below is the most common 10 entries of where Twitter users live according to Hubspot.com:

1. London
2. Los Angeles
3. Chicago
4. New York City
5. San Francisco
6. Toronto
7. Atlanta
8. Seattle
9. Boston
10. Austin

Why does this matter to you?

With Oprah, Ashton and CNN shoving Twitter down everyone’s throat, it’s inevitable that you or someone at your office will consider jumping in the deep end. The only problem is that if your company is local and the Twitter population in your city is small, you may have a higher time investment level in *building* the local population before you see any ROI. It would be cool if the Antique Store on Main Street in Dimebox, TX were on Twitter but the population of users there makes it difficult to connect for a retailer. If a company is looking to connect with a large population, Austin is a better fit as the crowd is heavily leveraged on Twitter (as well as other social networks).

Take a second to see judge Sheila Scarborough’s picks for this week’s blog carnival results- the winner may not be who you’d expect!

Be sure to comment there with your thoughts, it looks like a tight race this week!

To Quote Trump, “You’re Fired!”

Today it was reported that a Swiss Insurance worker called in sick because she needed to lay in the dark and couldn’t use a computer. The only problem is that her employer saw her Facebook activity during her “sick day.” The insurer states that she wasn’t fired for her actual activity on Facebook but for “the abuse of trust.”

Why You Should Care

After a certain amount of time on social networks, it becomes easy to become complacent with your activity and soon enough, you’re used to Twittering from your phone about going to the movies (at the same time you forgot a meeting you were supposed to go to) and uploading Facebook pictures of your vacation (although you just vented to a coworker about how you’re too busy to help).

Fighting Complacency and Comfort

Because of the informal nature of social networks, it is easy to become overly comfortable, especially if you’re branding yourself as an individual rather than a corporate identity. We encourage everyone to do something simple: be honest, alleviating the need to keep your story straight.

I can’t tell you how many times people (including me) have ratted themselves out online with their social network updates and activity. I’ve told my parents (who are on Facebook) that I was too busy for dinner and they probably saw that I was shooting the breeze publicly that night about American Idol. I have had subcontractors say they are too busy to work on a project but I can see them Twittering about how bored they are.

Don’t Be a Lying Swiss Insurer

So although you may not get the axe like the Swiss Insurer, you may destroy your reputation with simple slips of the tongue, so be informal but NEVER EVER be complacent with your online behavior!