U.S. Twitter Users Young, Poor and Growing: Pew Report

The U.S. population using Twitter and other microblogging services is younger, more urban and more racially diverse than America as a whole. But they’re not typically the same young-young demographic that dominate the use of many social networks, according to new findings from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

And their numbers are growing. The PIP memo published Thursday found that as of December 2008 some 11% of online American adults had used a microblog service like Twitter that allows them to post short updates of their status and to follow the updates from their friends and others.

That compares to 9% of online U.S. users who were asked in November 2008 if they used Twitter or other microblog platforms. A comparable survey question form PIP in May 2008 got a 6% “yes” response.

Like other social media, Twitter and the other microblogs have been taken up most avidly by younger age groups. Pew found that 19% of online adults ages 18 through 24 have used the services, as have 20% of those 25 through 34.

But the average Twitter user is older than the average member of either of the most prominent social networks. The median age for a Twitter user is 31, compared to 27 for a MySpace user and 26 for a member of Facebook.

Because of their youth, and since the U.S. young are more diverse in race and ethnicity than the online U.S. population as a whole, Twitter users are also a more varied racial and ethnic mix than the country overall. For the same reasons of age, they are somewhat less affluent. According to PIP, 17% of users in Internet households earning less than $30,000 annually use Twitter or other status update platforms, while only 10% of users in households earning $75,000 or more a year do so.

They are also slightly more likely to live in urban areas. Thirty-five percent of Twitter users live in urban markets compared to 29% of all Internet users. Only 9% of those using Twitter live in rural areas, as opposed to 17% of the general U.S. online population.

Using Twitter or other microblog platforms is heavily connected to use of social networks and blogging, Pew found. Nearly one quarter of those respondents who said they use social networks said they also used Twitter, compared to a 4% Twitter rate among those who said they are not users of social networks.

That correlation makes sense. Facebook and many other social networks have a popular feature that lets users update their status quickly with a short sentence, similar to a microblog post.

Twitter and other standalone update services such as Yammer give users a quick, easy way to post short 140-character sentences updating their network of family and friends on what they’re doing or thinking at the moment. Those networks of followers will see the posts immediately and can respond, allowing the services to act like a cross between a personal blog or social network page and a text message.

A growing number of consumer brands have begun to use Twitter as a way to reach their advocates, whether on a PC browser or, increasingly, on wireless devices such as a smartphone or laptop. Starbucks launched a Twitter account last summer that linked to its online community; it now has added a general-discussion Twitter account. And computer maker Dell operates dozens of different Twitter accounts, including one that publicizes online deals, some exclusive to Twitter users.

Three-year-old Twitter has grown so popular with consumer brands, in fact, that co-founder Biz Stone caused a stir last week by telling an interviewer that the company was looking for ways to monetize that appeal.

“We are noticing more companies using Twitter and individuals following them,” he said. “We can identify ways to make this experience even more valuable and charge for commercial accounts.”

The suggestion that Twitter might start imposing fees on brands using the platform swept through the blogosphere, raising some objections. That same day, Stone clarified his thinking in a post to the official Twitter blog.

“Whatever we come up with, Twitter will remain free to use by everyone—individuals, companies, celebrities, etc.,” Stone said. “What we’re thinking about is adding value in places where we are already seeing traction, not imposing fees on existing services.”