Who Tweets?

The Pew article I read documented who exactly uses this new cultural phenomenon, Twitter. It quickly pointed out that out of all the adults that use the internet, eight percent of them are Twitter users. It also points out that the majority of Twitter users are young adults, minorities, and people that live in cities. The article examines how it has now become one of the most popular online activities among tech enthusiasts because it lets them study the conversations of users, buzz about news, products or services, and announcements by commercial, non-profit, and government organizations. Moreover, Twitter has even become a prominent tool used by the Pew Research Center, "For instance, it is an important component of the analytical work by our colleagues at the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism in its New Media Index, which assesses the most prominent topics discussed in social media every week." It also charted what types of people make up most of the Twitter world, and the most prevalent kind of person is a woman that is between the age of 18-29, who is Hispanic, who makes either less than 30,000$ a year or 50,000$-74,999$ a year, who either attended some college or is attending one now, and lives in an urban neighborhood. I think it is very significant to note that African-American and Hispanics are more than twice as likely to use Twitter than white internet users. Clearly there is a lot to learn from these demographics about how our society operates on the internet, and although I don't know why certain groups use Twitter more than other, I know that if there was one site that could crack the code, it would be Pew.

Smith, Aaron. "Who Tweets?" Pew Research Center. 09 Dec. 2010. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1821/twitter-users-profile-exclusive-examination