Early Twitter Adoption Symptoms

So let me get this straight.

You use other social networks but seem to find yourself on Twitter more often? You frequently share updates about yourself on Twitter? You tweet from multiple devices? Hmm…

Seems as though you’re showing Early Twitter Adoption Symptoms.

Dhivya Subramanian and Taly Weiss of Trendspotting Blog explain how recent findings from a Pew Internet Research study show that youth (age 18 -44), social network users and users with access to mobile internet show early Twitter adoption symptoms.

Internet users may use the micro-blogging site for any number of reasons; Business,  news or they’re just tired of other social networks.  Among the many reasons, the study shows:

Tweeting by Internet users

19% of internet users say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others (up from 11% in April).

Demographics of Tweeters

• Twittering was skewed towards youth
• No income based difference were observed
• Twitter saw a diverse racial and ethnic base
• Women also showed slightly higher inclination towards Tweeting than men

Twitter is showing higher adoption rates from internet users now that it has surpassed the “Innovators” stage of the Technology Lifespan Cycle.

The use of social network sites like Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn had a huge influence on Twitter. Nearly 35% of other social network users say they have twittered as compared to 6% of internet users who do use any social network. This finding is independent of age or accessibility of internet via mobile devices. It also shows a strong correlation between status update and social network use. Recent stats presented by Facebook’s COO reveals there are now over 45 million status update per day from 30 million unique visitors on Facebook.  Twitter is estimated to yield about 25.9 million tweets per day (October 2009).

More Than One Way to Tweet

54% Americans have a wireless connection to internet via laptop, cell phone, game console or other mobile devices as of September 2009. They study indicates the segment of users who have access to wireless internet connection show higher growth in Twitter usage than those who rely exclusively via tethered connection.

Younger internet users show rapid uptake of Twitter

Over the last nine months, the younger internet users age 18-44 report higher Twitter adoption rates as compared to internet users ages 45 and older. The median age of Twitter hovers around 31 while Facebook is showing signs of aging, the median for this social networking site is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008.

A more mobile future for Twitter

I have to agree with Dhivya saying that we should expect to see the future growth of Twitter to be “side by side with the constant growth of smart phones.” It seems that every smartphone and smartphone commerical advertises a way to stay connected to some social network. This alone leads one to believe that if you weren’t tweeting from your phone before, you soon may be in the future…maybe even tomorrow.

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