I've often heard from many people how I should be on Twitter either tweeting or following other tweets. I came across a very interesting article on MSNBC regarding a Pew study (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33405217/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/) that found that nearly one in five Internet users are using Twitter or another similar service to share personal and business updates, or to see updates about others. That number increased from 11% last Spring to 19% now.
The Pew study attributed the increase in Twitter traffic to 3 types of Internet users: those who are already familiar with social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn; those in the age group of 18 and 44; and those who are accessing the Internet wirelessly via mobile devices such as their Blackberry or iPhone. On-the-go Internet users say they like to share what's going on in their lives and like to communicate with other people - if you have the means to do it easier via your phone, tweeting becomes a default action.
The Pew study also found that people that have 4 or more wireless devices are the most likely to use Twitter, with 39% saying that they do so, compared to 28% of users with 3 devices, 19% with 2 devices, and 10% with 1 device. Twitter becomes even easier to access as there are over 1Bn people worldwide with Internet access compared to 4Bn with cell phones that can access Twitter via SMS.
The Nielsen Co. reported that in 2Q 2009 that there were 4.2Bn text messages logged by the 2 largest wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless. They found that the clear leader was Twitter with 1.3Bn messages, followed by MySpace with 740 Million. Twitter's website is bringing in 54 Million visitor's a month, according to comScore.
Last, the Pew survey found that not everyone on Twitter is tweeting. Many are following, or listening to what others have to say via their tweets.
I find this study very interesting as I am not on Twitter at this time. It's not that I am against the technology as I do have access to Twitter via my iPhone or laptop computer. I personally don't think that I have anything interesting to tweet about in my life nor quite frankly do I have the time to constantly tweet what is going on in my life when some days I'm not sure if I remembered to do something. Who knows??? Maybe one day soon I will venture out of my comfort zone and decide to see what all the fuss is about...after all I will have some free time just as soon as I get done with this MBA program.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Somewhat scary that we now talk of people having more than 4 wireless devices....
ReplyDeleteI agree...the only possible situation that I could think of that would possibly allow me to have 4 wireless devices was if I had a work laptop and blackberry, then also have my personal laptop and iPhone. I find that it is difficult to juggle 2 devices, let alone 4.
ReplyDelete