I recently stumbled across this report by Edison, which looked into Twitter usage and general social media trends in North America. Among other interesting findings, one that stood out to me was the fact that despite  87% of people being aware of Twitter, only 7% used it. It’s right up there with Facebook for awareness, but is miniscule in actual use, compared to Facebookwhich had 41% usage. Despite Twitter growing in awareness in the public domain, largely thanks to high profile tweeters, it is still, comparatively, a small group of people that use it. I am unfortunately still viewed as a geek by by non-tweeting friends.

But what got my attention was the fact that 51% of Twitter users said that they follow a brand or company, compared to just 16% for all social network users. The discrepancy between the percentage of people following brands on Twitter compared to Facebook is interesting and for me, raises the question of whether this is simply a fact that a ‘follow’ is seen as less committal than a Like on Facebook, or whether this points to the actual usage. Is Twitter seen more as the channel for reaching businesses?

This is certainly encouraging for those businesses that are focusing their attention on Twitter and is obviously unwelcome news for those that focus their efforts elsewhere, predominantly Facebook. (Though I don’t think 16% should be sniffed at). So what is it about this medium that makes us more amenable to befriending companies? The immediacy of Twitter is probably one reason. I can quite confidently say that I have asked more questions to brands on Twitter than I ever have on Facebook, because I would expect to get an answer almost straight away. And it’s an easy process. I get a notification from Tweetdeck and my question is (hopefully) answered. With Facebook it’s not so smooth.

Let’s also put this into context. A poll conducted last year, found that Twitter was the most important tool for brands to master, at 30%. Facebook came in at 26% and LinkedIn at 22%. And did I mention that this poll was conducted on LinkedIn?? So even in the context of business-related tools, Twitter is still coming up trumps. These findings perhaps mark a shift in the way that we use Twitter.

So how do we use it?

Well, according to the Edison survey, 42% answered that they use it to learn about procucts/services. Twitter as a business tool certainly makes sense, it’s always been the place I would share and seek industry news and the integration of LinkedIn and Twitter last year would support this. It would seem that as ever, we’re still not willing to mix business with pleasure, with Facebook being seen as the ’social’ platform hence why we’re so unwilling to follow brands on there.

Even though Twitter may be seen as the tool for business, there are still wider findings to consider, around the businesses that are actually using these tools. Despite some excellent case studies and a clear appetite to communicate with brands, most small brands still aren’t using social media marketing. A whopping 81% according to a recent report by Citibank. Now this I find surprising. For all the talk of the accountants and business coaches setting up shop on Twitter, this shows that a large proportion of businesses still aren’t engaging in social media. A nice little reminder to take us out of our social media bubble.

There is clearly still a lot of work to be done to raise the awareness of online marketing to businesses. These findings show how important social media is to an organisation, but that there is still a gap between the companies that are using these tools, compared to the willing audience that’s out there. Let’s keep filling it

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