Twitter is the most popular third-party social media site among financial services firms, according to a survey by market research specialists, Corporate Insight. 

The survey was carried out in early August and found that 68% of the companies were on Twitter (up 10% from October 2010) while Facebook sign-ups went up by just 3%, from 56% to 59%. 

Corporate Insight surveyed 85 companies across the banking, brokerage, asset management and banking sectors. 

When Corporate Insight carried out its first social media study in 2008 only 15% of financial services firms had a Twitter profile and less than a third had a Facebook page. 

So why is the financial services industry choosing Twitter over Facebook? 

“Facebook is more of a relationship-driven community, whereas Twitter is more content-driven,” explained Alan Maginn, senior analyst at Corporate Insight. 

“Facebook is a more challenging environment for businesses because, in order to be successful, they must foster a relationship with their fans. With Twitter, they can concentrate more on the value of the content they produce.”

Posted by

Neil Turner