The latest Pew Internet survey shows some interesting points pertaining to U.S. Internet users and the way they are using Twitter and mobile devices. According to the study, around 19% of the overall U.S. internet users are sharing updates about themselves through Twitter and other social networking sites. This represents more 50% increase from the same data in 2008.If that finding is not interesting enough, what if the report says that the number of mobile devices that users own determine the degree of their participation in Twitter and other social networking sites? Even more interesting is the fact that these users belong to the younger group of internet users, those below the 44.
The study also found out that the median age of a Twitter user is 31. This remain almost the same median age of users in 2008. What is puzzling though is the fact that Facebook users seemed to have grown old faster. Whereas in May 2008, the media age was 26, today it is now pegged at 33. I hate to think that Facebook caused this to happen if we are looking at the same users surveyed by Pew Internet last year.
But what do these data mean? The most probably explanation is perhaps the fact that Facebook was able to transition from a teener’s social networking site ala Friendster to a social networking site with a mixed bag of members – the young urban professionals connecting to their college friends, internet savvy users who are using Facebook for social media marketing purpose and the rest of the other Facebook members.
Relating this report to the recent announcement that both Facebook and Twitter will be integrated with Microsoft’s Bing search engine, it seems that if these demographics will not change over time, then the search integration deal might actually work wonders for the three companies involved. I don’t think that these users would mind getting tweets and Facebook updates as part of Bing search results offerings.
Going back to the Pew Internet study, I’m inclined to ask whether you share updates about your life on Twitter and other social networking sites including Facebook? I think the answer would be a resounding yes, right? So, the next question to ask is do you use your mobile devices when posting these updates? Feel free to leave a comment below.