More than 90 per cent of Twitter users in the Mena say they have found out about a new product or service through Twitter and over 60 per cent have had their perceptions of a brand changed by Twitter, says a survey.

Spot On Public Relations, a leading corporate communications and media relations firm, recently published its Mena Twitter demographics and user habits survey.

Carrington Malin, managing director of Spot On Public Relations, said: “Twitter’s fast growth, coupled with the high level of activity amongst the region’s users, is making a number of key regional organisations sit up and take notice.”

“We hope that this survey of Mena Twitter demographics and user habits will provide marketers with a baseline from which to further explore the opportunities that Twitter is opening up,” he added.

While some 70 per cent of users surveyed said they had formed a positive perception of a brand through their interactions over Twitter, over 50 per cent had also formed negative perceptions of a brand.

A small but influential crowd of opinion leaders, many Middle East Twitter users were closely linked with the advertising, marketing, public relations and media industries, some 35 per cent of respondents in all.

Fifty-nine per cent of respondents said they interacted frequently with journalists, some 76 per cent interacted frequently with bloggers and over 65 per cent actually being contributors to a blog themselves.

“It’s of particular note that 61 per cent of those surveyed clearly expressed that their views of a brand or company have been affected through Twitter,” said Malin.

“Simply the fact that Twitter is already influencing brand perceptions in the region is interesting. However, noting that 60 per cent of Mena Twitter users are bloggers, 90 per cent of the users surveyed also use Facebook and that there are a significant and increasing number of journalists joining Twitter, Twitter is clearly able to punch above its weight in terms of influence.”

Over 85 per cent of Twitter users surveyed said that they used the service to find news or stay updated, while 55 per cent actively use the service to research new opinion and information.

Cementing Twitter’s reputation as a powerful ‘go to’ medium, over 90 per cent of users had opened a website or blog to read a story or article through Twitter and 38 per cent of respondents had tuned into a television program they had heard about through Twitter.

Over 75 per cent of the Mena Twitter users surveyed were also members of the professional social media network LinkedIn, while 91 per cent also use Facebook. Perhaps interestingly, 48 per cent of those that use Facebook already use Twitter more.

Showing a powerful degree of engagement with the service, over 70 per cent of respondents used Twitter every day of the week – and 96 per cent will use Twitter as much, if not more, into the future.

“A large percentage of the current Mena Twitter community are social media power users, which is consistent with the contention that Twitter is in its early adopter phase in the region,” said Malin.

“For marketers, this makes the opportunity even stronger, because these users have a significant influence and  are potential advocates for a brand or service,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service