Two latest surveys don’t exactly have good news for Twitter in the social media competition stakes. According to Forrester Research, followers engage with Google Plus posts more regularly than Twitter posts. Pew Research has found that a meager eight per cent of Twitter’s entire user base uses it to stay up-to-date with news.
The two surveys have also found that Facebook continues to rule at the top, despite opinions and news around its dwindling popularity among the American public. The surprising statistic from Forrester is how Twitter has almost the same number of users as Google Plus. 22 per cent of US adults visit both sites at least once a month. They are more partial to Facebook, with 72 per cent visiting it monthly.
As far as brands are concerned, 64 per cent has a presence on Google Plus while 82 per cent of the top brands have dedicated Facebook pages. Brands also post 56 per cent more often on FB than on its Google counterpart. Forrester Research admits that the low uptake of Google Plus is quite surprising given its range of benefits, one being low maintenance as all Facebook and other social media posts can be syndicated to Google Plus directly.
According to Pew Research, more people get their daily dose of news from Facebook (30 per cent) versus Twitter (8 per cent) and YouTube (10 per cent). The research firm also says that half of all users on social media repost/share new stories, videos or images while a slightly less 46 per cent of users discuss news events and issues on the sites. Interestingly, one out of ten social network users post news videos that they have themselves recorded, driving the increasing interest in citizen journalism.
Photo by EnoW / Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
