40% of young Facebookers have un-followed a brand in the last month

As we discuss in our new GWI Brand report (a free summary of which is available here), Facebook remains the top network in terms of brand-consumer interactions within the social space; almost half of the site’s active users say they have visited a branded page within the last month, while 4 in 10 have “liked” or started following a new brand.

Nevertheless, the temporary nature of such relationships is also clear from our data: 3 in 10 Facebookers say that they’ve “un-liked” a brand within the last 30 days. This figure climbs to 38% among 16-24s, underlining the challenge of keeping the youngest internet users engaged on a long-term basis.

Interestingly, fewer Google+ users might be following new brands each month (30%) but they are also less likely to stop engaging – just 16% have recently unfollowed a brand. Twitter’s ratio is even better still: 1 in 4 started following a brand last month while just 13% un-followed one.

Across all three networks, small but important minorities are posting positive comments about brands; a quarter say they have done this on Facebook in the last month, as have 18% on Google+ and 17% on Twitter. Just as significantly, about 10% on each network say they have posted a negative comment, illustrating the need for instant responses from brands.

To get the full report, visit our Insight Store here.