Sweet and sour: Social media reveals consumer perceptions of sweeteners

The Lansing, Michigan-based social media research firm examined social perceptions of sugar substitutes including aspartame, sucralose, stevia and sugar alcohols, as well as sugar-free products, in 38,000 social media posts in various outlets: Twitter, Facebook, blogs, comments, videos, forums, and mainstream news.

“Social media perceptions are fueling a whole new form of consumer research,”​ said co-founder and director of analytics for Loudpixel Allie Siarto. “We get to examine a huge number of unbiased conversations outside of a focus group, and we have a chance to see exactly how people are sharing these perceptions with their friends online.”​

The researchers found that sucralose was driving more social media conversations than any other sugar replacer – 44% of the total – and sucralose-based Splenda was the most discussed sugar substitute product, mentioned in 35% of product-related sugar replacement conversations.

As for positive and negative perceptions, stevia was viewed most positively among all the sugar substitutes, with 73% of social media conversations about stevia in relation to health discussing it in a positive light. Meanwhile, in conversations about aspartame, 91% were negative, the researchers found.

“These social media findings could become significant to how new products are made and marketed,”​ Siarto said.

She told FoodNavigator-USA: “Aspartame seems to be the one that people are most passionate about and the one that they want to talk to their friends about.”​

She said that just one percent of social media conversations about aspartame mentioned studies that have supported the sweetener’s safety.

“We have worked with a few different brands which are using this type of research to decide what kinds of ingredients they use in foods,”​ Siarto said, adding that from a consumer perception standpoint, stevia may have the greatest potential for growth.

The full report is available to download here.