This is a very good question and Lab42 used it as the basis for their “What’s Trending @ Twitter” Survey & Infographic (500 participants).  As featured on Mashable, Lab42’s research shares some pretty interesting insights on how people are using Twitter and why they are using Twitter:

One statistic that immediately stands out to me is that only 37% of people surveyed say they access Twitter multiple times a day.  Also only 10% of those surveyed use Twitter via a client (like TweetDeck or HootSuite), which make following the chatter on Twitter much easier. These statistics show that the world is still learning how Twitter works and the proper ways to use it.  It also can be interpreted that many workplaces still prohibit employees from accessing social media.

Another statistic that blows my mind is that 15% of people claimed that they joined Twitter to follow a celebrity or a brand (only 10% surveyed do not follow a brand).  It’s great to see more businesses and brands on Twitter, but I thought we were over the hipster age where people joined social media to look or try to be cool.

The best insights of all come from the question, “Why do you follow them (brands)?” Almost 70% of those surveyed said that they follow brands for discounts or coupons, which can be partially blamed on the world economy.  Interestingly enough only 30% said they follow a brand for customer service. Saving money is great but most consumers will only follow a brand that has products they enjoy and the brand gives them good incentives to buy more.  I find myself following most brands for customer service needs because most customer service is outsourced and not helpful at all.

What do you think about the survey and infographic?  Were 500 people a big enough survey audience for this type of questioning?

All statistics are from the “What’s Trending @ Twitter” Infographic provided by Lab42on Mashable.

Michael F. Lewis II is a Social Media Consultant and Marketing Analyst for Social Strategy1.  He contributes several blogs weekly to the SS1 site.  Connect with Michael on Twitter via @mlewii.

Image: Screen grab from Mashable