Study: Twitter Users = Information Junkies

by Gavin O'Malley, Apr 26, 2009, 5:31 PM

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Rather than ego fulfillment or networking, what appears to truly motivate Twitter users is learning new things and getting information in a timely manner, according to new data from research firm MarketingProfs.

The study of some 425 Twitter users, conducted in early and mid-April, found that nearly 100% respondents agreed with the statements "I value getting information in a timely manner," and "I find it exciting to learn new things from people," while about 80% "like to be connected to lots of people."

Still, about 70% of respondents did agree with the statements "I find it gratifying to have people follow me," and "I want to generate new business."

How greatly do members of the Twitter community value large numbers of followers? Respondents appeared to be evenly divided on the matter, as about 50% agreed with the statement "People who have a large number of followers are more respected than those who don't."

Nearly 40% of the survey sample, meanwhile, agreed with the statement -- most of them "mildly agree" -- 34%. The remaining 60% were roughly equally divided among "neither agree nor disagree," "mildly disagree," and "strongly disagree."

All respondents, however, strongly disagreed with the statement "People who have a large number of followers are smarter than those who don't."

Also of note, Twitter users do not appear to need instant gratification by way of responses from the rest of the community. When the survey asked how strongly Twitter users agreed with the statement "I feel bad when I tweet something and nobody responds," about 50% implied they aren't too troubled by a lack of response.

Less than 2% said they strongly agreed with the statement, whereas those who strongly disagreed constituted a plurality -- nearly 32%. The remaining two-thirds were roughly equally divided among "mildly disagree," "neither agree nor disagree," and "mildly agree."

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0 comments on "Study: Twitter Users = Information Junkies".

1. Eric Goldberg
   

   commented on: April 27, 2009 at 5:18 p.m.

   Totally true. Twitter users share a lot of valuable information that I've always been wondering what's been shared. BoilingPage (http://www.boilingpage.com) makes it simple for me to find the hottest pages on the web based on how popular they are in Twitter. I strongly believe this could be the next wave in search, the real-time search and could be a potential threat to Google.

2. Baron Toler from Direct Partners
   

   commented on: April 28, 2009 at 6:10 p.m.

   I seriously question the value of this “study”.
   The core problem is that the questions are poorly formed. This survey reminds me of a “push poll”.

   For example, take a group of people who frequent TMZ.com (or any website for that matter) and ask:

   Rate how you feel about the following:
   "I value getting information in a timely manner," - Who isn’t going to say yes?

   "I find it exciting to learn new things from people," - Again... Who isn’t going to say yes?

   "I find it gratifying to have people follow me" - Most people like that, online or off.

   “People who have a large number of followers are more respected than those who don't." - The survey summary contains a bizzare twisting of the statistics...in one sentence saying “about 50% of people agreed with the statement”, then in the next sentence stating that only 40% agreed (combined value of strongly agree-6% and mildly agree-34%).

   "I feel bad when I tweet something and nobody responds," - Only the most self-absorbed narcissists would really expect anyone to comment on random noise and pointless minutia.

   "I like to be connected to lots of people." - Hehe. The survey has found 20% of twitter users don’t like to be “connected”...they just like to rant at their followers.

3. Perry Drake
   

   commented on: April 29, 2009 at 8:41 a.m.

   Dear Media Post News, I cannot believe you included the results of this unscientific survey in a story for your website. You must be very careful here.

   When I first read this article on your website I thought wow prettey interesting. So I clicked through to the source for more details.

   I started eagerly reading and found an odd statistic -- the study said that the average tweeter spends 2.75 hours a day on twitter. I thought that seems awfully high and wondered immediately who they surveyed. So I went to the very bottom of the artilce to the "about the study" sectionn and low and behold I found my answer.

   This study was not to a random cross section of twitter users by any means. It was to a self selecting group of twitter user that responsded to some tweets asking for partiicpation in a survey. I hate to tell you but that negates the results for this survey. Bottom line here is we simply cannot use the results of this survey to make statements about all twitter users.

   Please Median Post News I love to get the latest news from you so plaease check your sources and details a bit more before publishing them and making hard statements.

   Perry D. Drake
   Assistant Professor,
   New York University

4. Perry Drake
   

   commented on: April 29, 2009 at 9:06 a.m.

   Oh, let em clarify on a point in my prior post. Media Post News did not provide a link to the full story -- I had to search for the source of the study. I Googled "marketingprofs twitter user study" to find the link to the source.

   In case you cannot find it, here it is:
   http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/tweeters-motivated-by-learning-immediacy-8864/

   Let me know what you think.

   Perry D. Drake
   Assistant Professor,
   New York University

5. Michelle Cubas from Positive Potentials LLC
   

   commented on: July 18, 2009 at 1:55 a.m.

   Twitter is another conduit for people to sell their wares. I find so many of the posts impersonal and contrived.

   This social mania reminds me of rubber-necking on the freeway. Everyone wants to get a look.

   It can be a useful tool when not over dramatized. I'm using the magnetism principle rather than the billboard approach.

   It's still my credibility and my name attached to the tweet at the end of the day, isn't it.
   

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