Cambridge, Mass.—Eighty five percent of business decision-makers said at least one social media channel is very important or important when making technology purchase decisions, according to a new study by Forrester Research. The report, “How B2B Marketers Use Social Now,” was based on an online survey of 7,369 business decision-makers, conducted in the fourth quarter. When asked, “How important are the following sources when researching and evaluating technologies and services to purchase?” the top response was support forums or discussion forums (63%), followed by virtual events or virtual trade shows (47%); online videos (46%); LinkedIn (40%); blogs (36%); professional social networking sites, not including LinkedIn or Twitter (35%); Twitter (19%); and Facebook (19%). According to a separate Forrester survey of 50 b-to-b marketers conducted in the fourth quarter, the top tactics marketers plan to use this year for lead-gen are Twitter posts (82%), online communities (79%), blogs (76%), LinkedIn discussion groups (76%), LinkedIn pages (76%) and Twitter offers (74%).