Sixty-four percent of adult US internet users who follow a celebrity via a social network such as Facebook or Twitter also follow a brand, meaning the celebrity follower is four times more likely to follow a brand than the average US adult online, according to new Nielsen Company data. Fans of celebrities are also valuable consumers in other areas of online, particularly when it comes to making transactions or purchases.
Followers More Likely to Execute Many Types of Online Transaction
One-quarter of online celebrity followers also used the web to conduct personal banking transactions and manage their credit card accounts, more likely to do so than the average adult online. Top online purchases among these online fans, with rates exceeding those of overall online adults, included clothing/shoes/accessories (18.2%), music (13.8%), and books (13.6%).
Email, Social Networking Also Popular with Followers
Top online activities among fans of celebrities included emailing, paying bills, and as would be expected, social networking. Of these top online activities, celebrity fans were significantly more likely than the average adult online to comment/post on social networking sites (86% more likely), view consumer generated video (83% more likely), visit a social networking site (67% more likely) and play online games (45% more likely).
Followers Share Advice
In addition, Nielsen data finds that such fans are also more likely to offer advice and opinion to fellow online consumers. This is particularly the case when it comes to entertainment topics, where 32% of celebrity fans online provide advice on movies (making them 44% more likely than the average online user to do so). Furthermore, 28% provide guidance on music (56% more likely) and television programs (34% more likely).
Sysomos: Celebrity Twitter Followers Have Low Authority
While celebrities have high numbers of Twitter followers, those followers usually have minimal reach and influence, according to June 2010 findings from social media consulting firm Sysomos. Of five celebrities examined, the average follower of President Barack Obama had the highest authority rating on a scale of 0 to 10, 2.4 (authority determined by proprietary Sysomos analysis). The most common authority score among Obama’s roughly 4.2 million followers is 1, held by 20%. The most common authority score of followers of all celebrities except Obama was 0.
About the Data: Nielsen’s findings are based on data from @Plan Release 4 2010. @Plan is a quarterly survey of approximately 36,000 US internet users age 18 and older fused with Nielsen’s NetView Internet usage from 3rd quarter 2010.