---
title: "40% of People “Friend” Brands on Facebook"
date: 2009-11-10
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2009"
    url: "/tag/2009.md"
---

# 40% of People “Friend” Brands on Facebook

![](https://web.archive.org/web/20100119024328im_/http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/razorfish_survey.jpg)Digital marketing company Razorfish has just launched [its third annual FEED survey](https://web.archive.org/web/20100119024328/http://feed.razorfish.com/feed09/the-data/) of 1,000 “connected consumers.” The survey is focused on online consumer behavior. This year Facebook and Twitter feature prominently. 40% of respondents “friended” brands on Facebook, while 25% reported following brands on Twitter. What’s more, Razorfish found that consumers access brands on Twitter and Facebook mainly for deals and promotions.

Of those who follow a brand on Twitter, nearly 44% reported that access to exclusive deals is the main reason. On Facebook or MySpace, 37% said that access to exclusive deals or offers was their main reason for friending brands.

Over 1/4 of respondents reported having followed a brand on Twitter, which is encouraging news for companies wanting to use Twitter to promote themselves.

43.5% reported following a brand to get “exclusive deals or offerings,” which again is a statistic that companies should take note of.

An even higher percentage of respondents have “friended” a brand on Facebook – a whopping 40%. Considering that Facebook is a social network that started out as a way for college kids to network, this is a statistic that will make companies and organizations take note. If you want brand recognition on the Web, according to these statistics there’s a very good chance that Facebook is a place you want to be.

A smaller percentage follow a brand on Facebook for exclusive deals or offers (36.9%) – but still a majority.

Is this “connected consumer” crowd mainstream? Well, about 62% of the respondents still use Internet Explorer as their browser, with 30% on Firefox. So yes, they are.

It’s interesting then to look at what are the homepages of these people.

While Google is unsurprisingly number 1 with 32.6%, Yahoo is close behind at 29.7%. MSN is still well used at 11.9%. We were most surprised that AOL is now only 7.9%. These statistics show that Yahoo remains a force among mainstream consumers, whereas AOL is slipping further behind.

We reported last week that [smartphones have almost overtaken ‘feature phones’](https://web.archive.org/web/20100119024328/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/admob_reports_on_mobile_webs_explosive_growth.php) as the cellphones of choice for consumers. Razorfish’s survey shows that 56% of connected consumers now use a smartphone – i.e. one that has email and web capabilities.

As with [the ChangeWave Research survey recently](https://web.archive.org/web/20100119024328/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/apple_rim_consumer_smartphone_market.php), Razorfish puts Blackberry (29.5%) ahead of Apple’s iPhone (20.1%).

Another illuminating statistic is the number of people who now get their news from Twitter and Facebook. While nearly 80% of respondents still access “traditional news web sites,” 33% get news from Facebook and 19.5% from Twitter. Only 27.3% get news from “alternative news web sites” – by which we presume they mean blogs.

Overall, these figures from Razorfish show that Facebook and Twitter are now major places for brands to be; as well as online sites where consumers get at least some of their news.

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/survey_brands_making_big_impact_on_facebook_twitter.php))*