A new study released by ExactTarget finds consumers who are active on Twitter are three times more likely to impact a brand's online reputation through syndicated Tweets, blog posts, articles and product reviews than the average consumer. The study supported the general findings that microbloggers have many reasons to follow brands they like. Though discounts and sales are toward the top of the list, news and information about a company and its products are primary. The survey of more than 1,500 consumers identifies top motivations for following brands on Twitter and provides new insight into consumers' expectations for interacting with brands online. Reason to Twitter Company or Brand (% of US Twitter Users) Reason to Twitter% of Users Get updates on future products 38% Stay informed about company activities 32 Receive discounts and promotions 31 Get updates on upcoming sales 30 Ger free samples, counons, etc 28 For fun or entertainment 26 Get access to exclusive content 25 Learn more about company 25 Show support to company to others 23 Share ideas, provide feedback 20 For education about company topics 14 Recommended 14 Get direct message from company 10 Source: ExactTarget, August 2010 eMarketer estimates there are 26 million monthly users of Twitter in 2010. That makes users of Twitter a relatively small minority of internet users, at 14.6%, but their voice is disproportionately loud. Morgan Stewart, principal, ExactTarget's research and education group, says... "what happens on Twitter doesn't stay on Twitter... the number of active Twitter users is less than Facebook or email... (but) the concentration of highly engaged and influential content creators is unrivaled-it's (the) gathering place for content creators whose influence spills over into every... corner of the internet." According to the report, daily Twitter users are about three times as likely as internet users on average to upload photos, four times as likely to blog, three times as likely to post ratings and reviews, and nearly six times as likely to upload articles. Monthly Online Social Activites (April 2010, % of Daily Twitter Users vs. General Internet Users) Social ActivityTwitter UsersGeneral Internet Users Comment on photos or videos 80% 36% Upload photos 76 27 Post to forums 75 25 Blog 72 14 Comment on blogs 70 23 Post ratings and reviews 67 20 Comment on news 61 15 Update own site 59 13 Upload articles 56 10 Upload video 53 10 Upload audio 50 12 Post to wikis 50 7 Sell online 49 14 Post coupons 48 10 Source: ExactTarget, August 2010 Key findings of the research include: · Twitter users are the most influential online consumers; 72% publish blog posts at least monthly, 70% comment on blogs, 61% write at least one product review monthly and 61% comment on news sites. · Daily Twitter users are 6 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. · 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. · Men are more than twice as likely as women to follow brands on Twitter to interact with the company (29% compared to 13%). · Nine out of the 10 most common motivations for consumers to follow a brand on Twitter involve consumers seeking information from a company. Tim Kopp, ExactTarget's chief marketing officer, concludes that "Twitter offers marketers an unrivaled opportunity to instantly and personally interact with customers on behalf of a brand... " For additional information from ExactTarget, please visit here.