Mums Look For Info On Twitter, Not Jokes

Two-thirds of mothers find it useful to be able to connect with brands on Twitter and receive useful nuggets of information, rather than jokes, a study by the microblogging social network reveals.

According to Oliver Newton, brand and agency advocate at Twitter, 67% of mums prefer to receive informative tweets rather than humorous ones. A lot of brands seem to wrongfully assume that you have to be funny when using Twitter, he said when announcing the findings at the Mumstock event in London, run by Mumsnet. However, it turns out this is not the case.

Results from the study show that mums follow an average of 32 brands on Twitter, with information on competitions, promotions and the best time to shop resonating with them the most. Roughly four fifths of mums (82%) also follow a celebrity on Twitter and, rather than reading magazines, many are now using the site to receive celebrity gossip.

Somewhat surprisingly, the results also showed that staying in touch with family and friends was a less important reason to be on Twitter, with only 43% of respondents saying they used the service to stay closer with loved ones. Over three-quarters of mothers access Twitter via a mobile device – a similar proportion to other demographics.

The study revealed that people actually look for informative content on Twitter, according to Newton, and brands should focus on this. If brands are able tp combine this with humour, he said, then even better – but if you can’t it is not a huge problem problem; you don’t have to be a comedian on Twitter.