Why we tweet
SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Smartbrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. Paul Chaney, Internet marketing director for Bizzuka and member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board, creates the questions and analyzes the results. We run the poll question each Wednesday in our e-newsletter and feature Paul’s analysis on this blog.
Last week’s SmartPulse question: What is the primary way you use Twitter?
- Staying on top of breaking news/trends, 42%
- Broadcast messages and announcements about your company, 23%
- Staying in touch with friends and family, 13%
- Prospecting and lead generation, 9%
- Monitoring what’s being said about you or your company, 8%
- Customer service, 5%
“There are many more reasons to use Twitter than what we listed in the poll. Still, these represent a broad range. Two things stand out: The extremely low percentage of people/companies using it for customer service. I would have expected that to be higher. As companies grasp the benefit that Twitter can provide in that respect, give it a few months and, doubtless, it will be. I know a number of companies who would testify to the value Twitter provides.
The other is the markedly high percentage of those that use it for staying on top of news and trends. Does that indicate Twitter tends to appeal to news junkies? For me, it has literally replaced news gathering that used to be done via RSS feed consumption. I sense that it serves the same purpose for others as well.” –Paul Chaney
What about you? For what reasons do you use Twitter?
Image credit, iStock
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Tags: customer service, Paul Chaney, twitter
Categories: Ideas in Action, Polls
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Posted by Daniela on May 27th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Just curious as to the sample size and number of responses out of that sample size?
Posted by Mary Ellen Slayter on May 27th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
@Daniela There were 184 responses, or about 1 percent of the subs for the brief.
Posted by Links of Note, May 2009: Social Media 100 « Peg Mulligan's Blog: Technical and Marketing Communication on June 1st, 2009 at 5:37 am
[...] Why we tweet: Paul Chaney, Internet marketing director for Bizzuka and member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board, reports the results of a recent poll, which indicates “Twitter [may] tend to appeal to news junkies.” Other notable results from the “Why we tweet” poll include “the extremely low percentage of people/companies using it for customer service” and “the markedly high percentage of those that use it for staying on top of news and trends.” [...]
Posted by Twitter Trackbacks for SmartBlog On Social Media » Why we tweet [smartblogs.com] on Topsy.com on September 2nd, 2009 at 7:23 pm
[...] SmartBlog On Social Media » Why we tweet smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2009/05/27/why-we-tweet – view page – cached SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Smartbrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. — From the page [...]