A new study shows that many young adults not only buy brands, but also discuss them and add brand content to their instant messenger services, Web pages and social networking sites, The ClickZ Network reported.

The global survey, conducted by Synovate in conjunction with Microsoft, noted that 28 percent of respondents talked about a brand on a discussion forum, 23 percent added brand-related content to their IM service, and 19 percent added it to their homepage or social sites.

The "Young Adults Revealed" study surveyed 12,603 people between ages 18 to 24 from 26 countries, according to Synovate. The survey respondents spent 2.5 hours online daily on average in non-work-related activity.

About half said they click on banner or online ads, while 18 percent said they accessed brand and product information via portals. However, "they are also interacting in a more engaged way," the study stated, with 24 percent uploading ad or marketing clips to social networking or video sites in the last month, The ClickZ Network reported.

Julian Rolfe, Synovate's global manager of syndicated research, said that young people are not only "totally comfortable with the idea of branded content and branded entertainment," but also "openly willing and eager to engage online with brands," according to The ClickZ Network.

"They clearly feel their opinions about brands are important, they want to associate themselves with brands they see as 'cool' and this is why we see them uploading clips to their social networking sites and IM services," Rolfe added in a statement, The ClickZ Network reported.

Moreover, 94 percent of young adults read e-mails regularly, 80 percent get news online, 76 percent use the Internet to read movie, music and game reviews, and a similar percentage chat on IM, according to the survey.

Nearly three out of four respondents watched online video clips, while one in 10 passed along viral ad and marketing clips, according to The ClickZ Network.