Tim Gibbon, director at Elemental, commented: "What brands have at their fingertips is an engaged audience that they can tap into for research and development, trialling products and services to gauge how they may be received more quickly, and globally, than before.
"If employed effectively," Mr Gibbon explained, "it can be a useful tool for saving time and cost and means businesses can work through kinks before a launch and get early customer buy-in."
Mr Gibbon explained that social platforms also helped brands to address customer enquiries "in a timely and appropriate fashion".
Meanwhile, new research has revealed that smartphones now account for the majority of all new mobile phone purchases in the US.
Nielsen's latest US data for May found that 38 per cent of all US mobile phone owners now have a smartphone.
Posted by Simon Jones
