Twitter: Gets more attention than it deserves?

Posted at 12:56 PM on December 9, 2010 by Jon Gordon (8 Comments)
Filed under: Tech

Mr. News Cut is under the weather and not blogging today but to make him feel a little better we'll tackle one of his favorite mediums: Twitter. You do follow him on Twitter, right?

Twitter looms large in the public imagination, yet only eight percent of Americans who are online use Twitter, according to a new report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. I was an early adopter of Twitter and am a fan, and as social media editor at MPR News, I find it to be a very valuable tool for distributing news, engaging our audiences and improving our reporting. But given the Pew numbers, it's probably fair to ask whether Twitter gets more attention than it really deserves.

I just chatted with Pew Internet's Aaron Smith about the new data. A transcript follows. What do you think?

News Cut: So eight percent of online Americans use Twitter?  I can't decide whether that's a big or small number.  

Smith: So obviously terms like "big" and "small" are fairly subjective. But to give you a sense of how that stacks up with some other internet activities, about as many online adults use Twitter as use online dating sites (8%) or buy and sell stocks, bonds or mutual funds online (11%). However, it is less mainstream than things like watching online videos (66% do this) or getting news online (75% do this).

News Cut: Does Twitter's growth trajectory suggest it will get as big as those activities?
 
Smith: This is actually our first "pure" read on Twitter use--in the past we've asked about the usage of status update services more broadly--so we won't really know the growth trajectory of the service until we ask this question a few more times. How it evolves will be very interesting to track. On the one hand, the lingo and abbreviations the site uses can make it somewhat challenging for new users. On the other, if I had told you five years ago that in 2010 people over the age of 50 would be the fastest growing cohort on social networking sites you would have thought I was crazy--yet that's exactly what we've found in our recent research. So things can change very quickly in a short period of time.

News Cut:  How does Twitter stack up against Facebook?

Smith: Around six in ten adult Internet users use social networking sites, and of these Facebook is the most popular. We haven't asked specifically about which sites people use in a little while, but in September 2009 we found that about 75% of social network users had a profile on Facebook.

News Cut: Your research identified some groups where Twitter use is notably higher: African Americans and Latinos, younger people, and urban dwellers. Interesting.  What's going on there?

Smith: It is interesting, and a lot of that has to do with demographics and mobility. As a group, urban dwellers, African Americans and Latinos each tend to skew relatively young, and are also heavily engaged in using mobile technologies (cell phones in particular) to access the web. Additionally, young people of all stripes are more likely than average to use social media in general. As a social technology which was designed with the mobile environment in mind, Twitter fits quite well with the way those groups access the world around them.

News Cut: With only 8 percent of online Americans using Twitter, why has it captured or imagination so much?

Smith: I think it really depends on whose imagination we're talking about. I think for the people who regularly use it, it serves as a hub (often one among many) where they can communicate with friends, tap into the conversation around important issues, and connect with politicians, pop culture figures, sports stars and everyone in between.

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Comments (8)

Good grief, yes, Twitter is heavily overblown, and especially on public radio.

I'm really tired of some interviewer asking if it's okay to ask the guest a question from a guest "via my Twitter account". Either the interviewer can ask questions on behalf of the audience, or not. But it doesn't matter if the question came in via pen & ink on paper, twitter, or any other medium. Just ask the question and get on with it.

At least we're beyond the stage where every host had to introduce the concept of twitter in every episode of the show. Thank goodness for that.

Other media that I see will refer to Twitter, but in a much less intrusive way. Then again, most of that is online where the references are hyperlinks, and it's easier to be somewhat subtle about it.

Public media hosts: we're not all online in the same way that you folks are; that 8% figure is more representative of reporters that are NOT on twitter (I'd guess). Please make sure you don't fall into the mind-trap that believes that everyone else behaves just like you.

Disclaimer: I'm 40+, have been online extensively for 30 or so years, and am not a Tweeter. I barely use any of the so-called "social media" sites. Urban dweller is the only of those demographics from the article where I fit in. So maybe it's just that I'm tired of hearing references to something I don't participate in. Or it might actually be overblown in the media.

Posted by davidz | December 9, 2010 1:42 PM

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Twitter, and "The Tea Party Movement" for that matter, are only made real because media outlets trend like 13-year-old girls nowadays. Janie has a side ponytail? I want a side ponytail! Soon all the girls at school have side ponytails and they don't really know why. No one wants to look stupid and out of the loop, though, so they go with it.

Please, Onion, nail it harder than any intentionally-serious news source:

"Although it recently hit the million-user mark, Foursquare has yet to approach the vast subscriber base of Facebook and Twitter. But that all could change as people become increasingly reliant on the…okay, here, here, let me sum up this whole "news" story for you: Aging, scared newspapermen throw themselves at the latest mobile technology trend in a humiliatingly futile attempt to remain relevant."

http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-social-networking-site-changing-the-way-oh-chr,17465/

Posted by Steve G. | December 9, 2010 2:13 PM

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I actually think that twitter is actually not actually that great. Actually, more people actually don't use twitter than those who actually use it. It actually seems like facebook is actually more popular.

Posted by Disco | December 9, 2010 2:17 PM

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Yes twitter is blown out of perspective... apparently it is saving the world in Iran, and will get you a sitcom...

And all I can think is: how much can you really convey in 140 characters, and why are new outlets that make a living in words over publicizing this new form of text messaging?

Posted by jon | December 9, 2010 3:16 PM

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I have a Twitter account. I stopped having the tweets sent to my phone as it became intrusive at work and annoying the rest of the time to have my phone interrupting me.

So now, I have a Twitter account with stuff coming in on the web site, but I can't remember the last time I looked at it. I suppose that I am counted in the 8% in this survey. I wonder how many Twitter "users" are like me.

Posted by John P. | December 9, 2010 3:21 PM

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I have a Twitter account and I really enjoy it. I also understand that Twitter is not for everyone. Although stats say only 8% of people in the U.S. use Twitter, most of my peers do. I use Twitter to analyze the news media (seeing the back and forth between journalists can be interesting and, at times, insightful). My friends use it to debate, joke, and share links to various items of interest. We have been jokingly calling it "group text."

Posted by Christin | December 9, 2010 4:05 PM

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Just opened a Twitter account last week and still don't fully understand it. I am in the 50+ group and thought it might be helpful at work, but doubt enough people know it to make it worth the time learning.

Posted by JVK | December 10, 2010 10:35 AM

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I think that twitter is little more than a personalized news ticker, taken from sources that the user chooses themselves. It's a lot like an individual version of that neat ol' sign that stretches around the MPR HQ on Seventh Street.

If you look at it that way it's amusing and potentially useful - but not anything worth talking about endlessly. Nor is it ever going to change the world.

Posted by Erik Hare | December 10, 2010 10:39 AM

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