Brands in the food and beverage, clothing and retail sectors generate the highest number of direct mentions among Twitter users in the UK, according to a report.
Drawing on a sample of 10,000 tweets made by 1,000 members of Twitter, the social media monitoring firm BrandWatch?revealed that 3.6% of posts referred to a brand by name.
?This made brand names almost as prominent as television, film and sport, and more prominent than music, celebrities or news updates,? the firm?s study said.
Members of the food and drinks category yielded 32% of these messages. McDonald?s and Nando?s, the restaurant chains, Tesco, the supermarket giant, and Cadbury, the confectioner, led the charts here.
Clothing and accessories brands delivered a further 17% of tweets. River Island, the retail chain, enjoyed the greatest amount of buzz, ahead of UGG boots and Boohoo, the ecommerce site.
The technology sector was the subject of 11% of tweets referencing brands. Apple, and its iPhone handset, topped the category rankings, with Samsung, Microsoft and Orange following next.
While 80% of content about technology brands was generated by men, women were behind 89% of tweets in the clothing category and 73% for food and drink.
Elsewhere, general retailers and operators in the entertainment industry were each mentioned in 11% of tweets mentioning brands. Transport and beauty products came next on 4% apiece.
?Equal numbers of products and services were mentioned, suggesting an even split between secondary and tertiary sectors,? the study said.
?Brands ranged from large, established names including Amazon and Ford to smaller companies such as Azendi and Micro Scooters.?
Looking more broadly, the analysis showed that 38% of posts were ?solo tweets?, where the user did not link with other Twitter members using tagging or a direct exchange.
A further 36% were replies to messages, while 22% were retweets, the analysis added.