Social media users are ‘more likely to donate’

Tweeters ‘more likely to donate’

By Kaye Wiggins,Third Sector,6 April 2010

Social networkers are generous, DMS study finds

People who use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter give more money to charity than those who do not, according to new research.

A survey of about 24,000 people in the UK was carried out between October and December last year for marketing agency DMS. It showed that social network users aged between 25 and 34 were 37 per cent more likely to have given £150 or more to charity in the previous 12 months than the rest of those surveyed.

Social networkers aged between 35 and 44 were 8 per cent more likely to have given more than £150, the research found.

Across all age groups, according to the research, social networkers were 106 per cent more likely to have given to charity by text message than the population as a whole. They were 46 per cent less likely to have donated by post.

The research also showed that Comic Relief, Sport Relief and Children in Need were the three favourite charities identified by social network users.