« Barry Diller Willing to Sell Ask.com, But No Deal in the Works | Main | Hot Rumor: Google is Launching a New Music Service »
October 28, 2009
Tweet This: 19 Percent of Internet Users Use Twitter
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 19 percent of Internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys conducted in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11 percent of internet users said they used Twitter or another micro-blogging service.
Three groups of Internet users are responsible for driving the growth of this activity: social networking site users, mobile Internet users, and adults under age 44.
In addition, the more devices someone owns, the more likely they are to use Twitter or another service to update their status. Fully 39 percent of Internet users with four or more internet-connected devices (such as a laptop, cell phone, game console, or Kindle) use Twitter, compared to 28 percent of Internet users with three devices, 19 percent of Internet users with two devices, and 10 percent of Internet users with one device.
The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. By comparison, the median age for a LinkedIn user is now 39, down from 40, while the median age for a Facebook user is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008.
According to Pew, it will become more difficult to track status updating as an independent activity as social network updates feed into Twitter and vice versa. For now, it is clear that a "social segment" of internet users is flocking to both social network sites and status update services. This segment is likely to grow as ever more internet users adopt mobile devices as a primary means of going online.
Cindy Krum, CEO of Rank-Mobile, interviewed Mark Jackson, CEO of Vizion Interactive, about the Twitter panel discussion at SES Toronto 2009.
Twitter is no Google - Mark Jackson, Vizion Interactive at SES Toronto 2009
At SES Chicago 2009, Jackson will be speaking at the "SEO Through Blogs & Feeds" session, and Krum will be speaking at the "Cool Mobile Apps, Augmented Reality - It's a Brave New World!" session.
Posted by Greg Jarboe on October 28, 2009 5:00 PM
Comments
Leadgenix October 29, 2009 10:58 AM
It's a good number but I wonder if people are using Twitter while on the internet from a desktop or a mobile device?
twitter backgrounds October 30, 2009 12:05 AM
of this activity: social networking site users, mobile Internet users, and adults under age 44. Tweet This: 19 Percent of Internet Users Use Twitter - admedian.com 10/29/2009 According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project , 19 percent
the vert October 30, 2009 5:29 AM
Having just gone through my 2500 plus followers to make a list I found many have not been back to Twitter in months - so that number may be inflated... how many use it regularly?
Aussiewebmaster October 30, 2009 11:59 PM
Good question, Frank. I looked at the Pew methodology and found that 9 percent of those surveyed used Twitter or another service to share updates about yourself or to see updates about others "yesterday," which is up from 5 percent in April 2009 and 4 percent in December 2008. So, I am sure there is "churn," just like there was churn back in 2005 and 2006 by blog creators who didn't keep updating their blogs. But there has been a net increase in the overall percentage.
Greg Jarboe October 31, 2009 8:42 AM
These are incredible numbers! Looks like our industry's biggest buzzword- social media- isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Soon more traffic will be driven through social media than SEO, so internet marketing companies better take note of this research.