Pew Internet & American Life Project’s recent “Twitter and Status Updating, Fall 2009” report reveals that about 19 percent of adult Internet users use Twitter or another status update service, reflecting a huge surge from previous surveys.
In an April 2009 survey, Pew found that 11 percent of Internet users said they were using a status update service.
“Three groups of internet users are mainly responsible for driving the growth of this activity: social network website users, those who connect to the internet via mobile devices, and younger internet users – those under age 44,” the report notes.
Pew looked at the demographic breakdown and found that 17 percent of men use Twitter or a similar status update service, while 21 percent of women did.
Nineteen percent of whites (non-Hispanic) used Twitter or a similar service, while 26 percent of African Americans (non-Hispanic) and 18 percent of Hispanics did.
Thirty-three percent of Internet users between the ages of 18-29 used Twitter or another status update service, while 22 percent between 30-49 did. Nine percent of Internet users between 50-64 followed suit, while 4 percent of users 65+ did.
Those with at least some college education were more likely to use Twitter, Pew found. Twenty-one percent of Internet users who had some college education use Twitter or a similar service, while 21 percent of college graduates also used a status update service. This compares to 18 percent of users with less than a high school diploma and 17 percent of those with a high school diploma.
Internet users with less than $30,000 in household income were more likely than their wealthier counterparts to use Twitter or a similar service, as 22 percent of this group updated their status online, compared to 21 percent of those with a household income of $30,000-$49,999, 20 percent of those with a household income of $50,000-$74,999, and 20 percent in the $75,000+ bracket.
The use of social network sites like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn means a user is more likely to also use Twitter – 35 percent compared to 6 percent of Internet users who do not use social network sites.
“Statistical analysis of the Pew Internet Project’s September 2009 survey data shows that internet users who use social network sites are more likely to use Twitter or another status updating service, independent of other factors such as that group’s relative youth or propensity to go online via mobile devices,” the report notes.
Internet users who have access to a wireless connection to the Internet by way of a laptop, cell phone, game console or other mobile device were more likely to tweet than those who do not. Of this group, 25 percent use Twitter or another status update service, up from 14 percent in December 2008. Just 8 percent of users who use only tethered access to the Internet use Twitter or a similar service, compared to 6 percent in December 2008.
Additionally, the more Internet-connected devices a user owned, the more likely he/she is to tweet, according to Pew.
Also, while Facebook’s median age has increased to 33 from 26 in May 2008, Twitter’s median age has remained steady at 31 during the past year.
Sources:</strong
http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/17-Twitter-and-Status-Updating-Fall-2009.aspx?r=1
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