Twitter Users Unveiled

Who uses Twitter anyway? Young people? Old people? Boomers?

On May 31, 2012, Pew Internet released a report answering many questions about Twitter Use 2012. The report discusses Twitter usage over time and tells us:

- Some 15% of online adults use Twitter as of February 2012
- 8% do so on a typical day
- Overall Twitter usage has nearly doubled since the Pew report in November 2010
- The proportion of online adults who use Twitter on a typical day has doubled since May 2011
- The proportion of online adults who use Twitter on a typical day has quadrupled since late 2010

Several demographic groups stand out as having high rates of Twitter usage relative to their peers.

- - African-American internet users continue to use Twitter at high rates. More than one quarter of online African-Americans (28%) use Twitter, with 13% doing so on a typical day (this is nearly double the overall average)
  - Young adults — One quarter (26%) of internet users ages 18-29 use Twitter, nearly double the rate for those ages 30-49.
  - City residents — Residents of urban areas are significantly more likely to use Twitter than their rural counterparts.

Twitter use within the overall population remained steady over the past year, yet 18-24 year olds' use of Twitter increased dramatically between May 2011 and February 2012, both overall and on a “typical day” basis. Can this be attributed to the increased usage of smartphones? Currently, 31% of 18-24 year olds interviewed us Twitter.

The proportion of young Internet users who use Twitter on a typical day also doubled over the past year. One in five Internet users ages 18-24 (20%) now use Twitter on a typical day, up from 9% in May 2011. The same is true for slightly older adults.