Twitter Traffic Surges to 10 Million: The Demographics Driving the Growth

• April 7, 2009
• 7 Comments

Twitter continues to defy all those who question its relevance. Exploding from 6 million visitors at the beginning of the year, ComScore released its latest numbers that portray an almost vertical ascent through the end of February 2009, hitting an astonishing 10 million worldwide.

Perhaps more interestingly, is the demographics that are fueling the groundswell. According to ComScore, the majority of visitors around the world were 35 years old or older, which match Nielsen’s assessment of those groups representing the majority of Facebook’s user base. In fact, ComScore observed that 45-54 years olds are 36 percent more likely than average to visit Twitter, followed by 25-34 years olds, who are rank at 30 percent.

Similar to Facebook, a social network initially intended to connect college students, Twitter immediately flew beyond the youth culture it expected to support it.

In the U.S., 10 percent of Twitterers fall between age 55 and 64, which is equal to those existing users between 18 and 24.

The traditional class of early adopters has now proliferated across every demographic, giving birth to a new genre of respective echo chambers that are now present in every market.

Twitter is an increasingly popular service not only because it provides a platform to proactively share updates, it’s the surfacing of real world dialogue that reveals true sentiment and social trends, linking those with something to say and others looking for conversations related to important themes and keywords.

It’s one of the most compelling and critical catalysts for businesses to flock to the dynamic micro community. It serves as our attention dashboard and our new source of information and direction. I’d also argue that Twitter and the Facebook News Feed (the statusphere) will ultimately replace bookmarks and RSS feeds for the masses, as we increasingly rely on friends and peers to serve as our social seismograph for relevant and contextual data.

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