So, who is following the world’s biggest companies on Twitter?

Sometimes, on slow days, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that your brand’s Twitter followers are either only active once a year or composed of a significant number of bots. Who are you speaking to, really?

Some new data from PR firm Burson-Marsteller and social analytics company StatSocial dishes out some insight (well, for the world’s biggest companies at least). The two companies partnered to study the Twitter followers of Global Fortune 100 businesses, and found something interesting: they’re influencers.

Followers of the mega corporations tend to have more followers themselves, more than doubling the average user’s 300 followers across all social platforms with their average of 735. Followers of companies in the healthcare and automobile industries have even more followers, with health followers having an average of 1 614 followers and petrol heads attracting the most fans with an average of 1 573 followers.

According to the study, companies in the technology and automotive sectors have the most socially connected and influential followers. Their followers are approximately 1,300 times more influential than the average Twitter user. Conversely, followers of leading global healthcare and retail companies are just 43 and 329 times more influential than the average Twitter user.

Followers of these global mega brands also tended to be older, with the 46 – 55 age category standing out as a common one, although the slightly younger 36 – 45 category was almost as popular. That goes against a lot of previous research that has suggested Twitter is a network packed with young early adopters — perhaps the youth just isn’t as interested in following the antics of companies like Shell and BP?