Spot On PR’s MENA Twitter Demographics & User Habits Survey

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Summary

2009 has been a big year for Twitter with the micro-blogging platform’s rate of growth rocketing up to more than 20% per month and now showing annual growth of 1,460 percent (June 2008 to June 2009) according to Comscore. Although it’s still early days for Twitter in the Middle East and North Africa, Twitter is now growing fast and the numbers of Twitter users in the Middle East and North Africa is now increasing at a rate of 17% per month. The MENA Twitter community overall has increased ten times over the first seven months of 2009.

Spot On Public Relations has been active on Twitter since August 2008, has been tracking Twitter usage in the MENA region and, in the absence of any data on the region’s Twitter growth or demographics, has been conducting its own research. This report is the result of the region’s first extensive Twitter usage survey which focuses on the demographics, Twitter habits and experiences of a sample of 216 registered Twitter users across the Middle East and North Africa.

Here are some of the MENA Twitter Survey’s key findings:

— 54% of respondents are following 100 – 499 other Twitter users

— 53% of users surveyed have 100 – 499 followers

— 35% of Twitter users tweet 2-5 times per day

— 64% typically tweet every day of the week

— Contrary to global trends, twice as many men in our Middle East and North Africa survey use Twitter than women (other surveys show a similar male bias on Facebook in MENA)

— 99% of those surveyed tweet in English, 26% tweet in Arabic

— Only 50% of Arabic speakers tweet in Arabic

— 39% tweet mainly with other Twitter users in the Middle East

— 61% of MENA Twitter users surveyed say that Twitter has affected their perceptions of a brand

— 70% of MENA Twitter users say they have formed a more positive perception of a brand due to Twitter and 52% say that they have formed a more negative perception of a brand due to Twitter

— 48% of users surveyed say that they have often been alerted to a major story via Twitter, 54% say that Twitter has lead them to a blog or website and 21% say that they have tuned into a TV program as a result of Twitter

— 32% of users say that they have bought a product or service as a result of recommendations on Twitter

— 96% of users expect to continue to use Twitter as much as they do today or even more in the future