Pew Internet - Twitter Update 2011

The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently released its updated statistics on Twitter use.  The report found that as of May 2011, 13% of online adults use the status update service Twitter. That represents a significant increase from the 8% of online adults who identified themselves as Twitter users the first time they were asked a “stand-alone” question about Twitter adoption in November 2010.

Twitter Users

Twitter usage by those ages 25-44 has grown significantly since late 2010
Although young adults continue to have relatively high rates of Twitter usage, the number of 30-49 year olds who use the service has doubled since late 2010—from 7% of such users in November to 14% in May 2011. This growth trend is especially pronounced among 25-34 year olds—Twitter use for this cohort roughly doubled between November 2010 and May 2011, from 9% to 19%—although growth in Twitter use among internet users ages 35-44 was notable as well (from 8% in late 2010 to 14% in spring 2011). By contrast, Twitter adoption over the same time period was stable among the youngest adults (those ages 18-24) who were the most likely to use the service in the first survey.

Twitter Age
These findings come from national survey findings from a poll conducted on landline and cell phones, in English and Spanish, between April 26 and May 22, 2011 among 2,277 adults (age 18 and older). The margin of error among the internet users is +/- 3.7 percentage points.  To view the entire survey from Pew Internet, please visit here.

Interesting article from PRNewsonline.com.  Based on a recent Pew Research report, only 42% of Americans consider the TV set a necessity. While I find this number pretty shocking, it only illustrates the shift from traditional media to media-on-the-go and online. This factor is extremely important when looking at public relations strategy and implemention of new media.

I can say that I have several friends who have stopped their cable and TV services (some due to expense) and now do all of their viewing on their laptops. I don’t see myself drifting away from my TV any time soon - especially if one of those 3D sets comes into play during football season.

Do you have any intentions to turn your back on your TV?  Where does it rank for you as a needed technology?

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Scott Van Camp writes — According to Pew, this number has been dropping—from 52% last year and 64% in 2006. Of all of the findings that come from Pew Research (and it seems like they do 20 surveys a day) this one hits home the most for me. Comfortably settling in front of the tube almost every night is part of my DNA, but I see the younger demo watching shows on their iPads and phones on trains and planes these days. Plus, the expense of cable TV can’t be ignored, especially in today’s economy. In fact, SNL Kagan reported last week that in Q2 of this year the total number of subscribers dropped (by 711,000) for the first time in cable’s history. For communicators, all of this confirms that while still paying dividends, traditional broadcast outreach needs to be looked at closely. For me the question is, if regular TV is no longer a necessity, when will it be become extinct?