Since my post about the Cell C network issues of last night, I sat down to think and dug up some information as why I and many others follow brands on Twitter. The reason for me thinking about it was because I have an issue with brands tweeting stuff that has absolute no relation to them.

Take the Cell C twitter account for example, a quick look at their account reveals that they would rather tweet about how many spider legs there are in chocolate bars rather then about their own products or services.

So what are the main reasons for consumers following brands on Twitter? After some investigation I came up with the following reasons:

• Get updates on future products
• Stay informed about company activities
• Receive discounts and promotions
• Get updates on upcoming sales
• Get free samples, coupons, etc.
• Get access to exclusive content
• To learn about the company
• Share ideas and provide feedback
• Product support

All of the above makes sense to me, seeing as they are all related to the brand itself and that I presume that it’s also what brands are trying to give to consumers through social media.

Why do you follow brands on social media?

MyScoop the latest addition to the South African blog aggregation and social bookmarking arena has again amazed me with its latest feature.

Nick Duncan the man behind MyScoop is constantly working on new features to make MyScoop South Africa’s best social bookmarking and blog aggregation tool, and its latest feature is site statistics straight to your inbox.

According to Nick there will be a setting in your MyScoop profile where you will be able to enable or disable the new feature as well as an option to receive statistics monthly or weekly.

The statistics mail contains stats such as your monthly rank overall and in your category, referrals sent through MyScoop to your blog, traffic statistics like visits and page views and a detailed view of how much traffic got sent through to what article on your blog.

Personally I think MyScoop is starting to give Afrigator and slowly dying Amatomu a run for their money when it comes to blog aggregation and social bookmarking. MyScoop already packs more features and nice to haves that Afrigator does not cater for, and every day I see more and more local bloggers joining MyScoop, even the big boys in South African blogging is starting to give it a try.

Whats your take on MyScoop?