Only 1 in 20 Americans Use Twitter

Recommended Sources

About Media Industry

BNET Media provides daily industry trends and news coverage with insights for managers and executives in publishing, print, broadcast, film, and online media. In addition to media company profiles, we bring you industry analysis on new partnerships, media products, mergers and acquisitions, labor and cost management, media buying, investments and a host of other important business issues.

If you prefer bad news, a new Harris Poll reports that only 5 percent of Americans are using Twitter so far.

If, on the other hand, you prefer good news, this means that the upside for Twitter, the fastest-growing service in our time, hasn’t even begun to be realized.

The Harris findings also indicate that 51 percent of Americans do not yet have a MySpace or Facebook account. Again, depending on your perspective, there is lots of upside here.

Parsing the data further, there are other useful findings:

74 percent of those aged 18-34 years old have a Facebook or MySpace account, but this quickly drops off the older one gets. Only 24 percent of those 55 and older, for example, have an account.
8 percent of 18-34 year olds use Twitter, 7 percent of those 35-44 use it; 4 percent of those aged 45-54 and just 1 percent of those 55 and older use it.
Men and women use Twitter at the same levels, but women are more likely to have a Facebook or MySpace account (52% versus 45%).

Tags: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Gender And Diversity, Human Resources, David Weir

In addition to serving as a BNET Media analyst/blogger, David Weir is a veteran journalist and the author of several books. Weir is a co-founder and vice-president of the Center for Investigative Reporting, as well as an editorial board member of The Nation.

BNET User Analysis

Voice your 2cents

Web Buzz:

Twitter Just a Blip So Far

Progressive Grocer - 201 days 14 hours 23 minutes ago

While the media may have discovered Twitter, more than half of all Americans aren’t using it. Findings of the Online The Harris Poll, conducted between March 31 and April 1, 2009, show that 51 percent of Americans don’t use Twitter or have a MySpace or Facebook account. Forty-eight percent of adults have either a MySpace or Facebook page,...
Obvious: People Don't Want to Pay for Online News

WebProNews - 62 days 16 hours 54 minutes ago

Paid Content UK conducted a Poll with Harris Interactive, asking respondents how much they would pay for online news, and what they would do if they're favorite news sites started charging. The findings, perhaps not so shocking, indicate that users basically don't really want to pay.Paid Content's Robert Andrews says they've "learned that only...
Obvious: People Don't Want to Pay for Online News

WebProNews - 62 days 10 hours 54 minutes ago

Paid Content UK conducted a Poll with Harris Interactive, asking respondents how much they would pay for online news, and what they would do if they're favorite news sites started charging. The findings, perhaps not so shocking, indicate that users basically don't really want to pay.Paid Content's Robert Andrews says they've "learned that only...
Research Brief: Twitter Just A Blip So Far

MediaPost - 202 days 17 hours 58 minutes ago

null null null null
Peter MacMahon's Business Blog: Gordon Brown's incredible shrinking economy

Automotive Industry Today - 214 days 15 hours 8 minutes ago

... presided over the fastest contraction in the British economy in nearly three decades. The economy ... previous three month period. That means that Britain's economy has now declined for three consecutive ... bad news today, as we needed it. Car production fell 51.3 percent in the year

Links from the Web Buzz:

BNET TalkbackShare your ideas and expertise on this topic

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

1

linkerjpatrick

05/06/09 | Report as spam

RE: Only 1 in 20 Americans Use Twitter

I actually thought 1 in 20 in not too bad. Considering this is still in it's infancy. Twitter still has a ways to go before it's gets organized to be usuable to more more. I love it myself but I would love to see I way to organize groups online, manage multiple accounts without having to have a separate e-mail address for each one. If it were not for tools like Tweetdeck a lot of the people I follow locally would get lost in the stream so to speak. I'm not sure if 5% or 1 in 20 is totally accurate. I have 4 accounts I manage myself for business, church, home, personal and hobbies. I know some people have set up Twitter accounts just for events like when Dave Ramsey did the Town Hall for Hope, etc.
2

hotweir

05/07/09 | Report as spam

RE: Only 1 in 20 Americans Use Twitter

Your points are all well-taken. Twitter is insanely hard to organize from my perspective, but it is a wonderful way to circulate headlines!
3

hotweir

05/07/09 | Report as spam

RE: Only 1 in 20 Americans Use Twitter

And you've put your finger on the one of the reasons it is growing so fast!
4

null

05/07/09 | Report as spam

RE: Only 1 in 20 Americans Use Twitter

Amazing stats for a company so young...!!! Truly revolutionizing the social media space...certainly providing small business with immense opportunities to leverage the power of the internet!!!

This real estate is way too cheap @ $700 million...that is apparently the number being thrown around yesterday!!!!

BY
Social Media Dude at http://www.propertysyndication.com
5

hotweir

05/07/09 | Report as spam

RE: Only 1 in 20 Americans Use Twitter

I agree, if I were a buyer I'd need to start with 9 zeros behind my offer, at least. On the other hand, the Twitter folks are well-advised to wait and stay independent. With a huge market penetration upside as yet unrealized, they could well be the next big IPO. With public money they will easily be able to buy those who now would purport to be Twitter's Daddy!
6

AmberSims

05/23/09 | Report as spam

RE: Only 1 in 20 Americans Use Twitter

This is definitely a positive statistic!

It's growing rapidly, and this is now on a horizon with competing social media. There are many social media platforms, and frankly, this one is a great supplement to what's out there!

Twitter isn't trying to be the same vehicle as Facebook or MySpace. It's simple. You have 140 characters to create a worthy value proposition to communicate! Like it or leave it, it's simple and easy to digest.

Two thumbs up from all of us at All Stages Marketing!

Yours Socially,
Amber
www.allstagesmarketing.com