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Just who's using Twitter, and to what end? We're about to tell you, but the answer takes more than 140 characters — the limit for tweets.

Some 11 percent of U.S. adults who use the Internet also send status updates on Twitter, a three-year-old "communications protocol" that allows users to blast small bursts of info to their followers and friends, according to new data by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Status updating is most common among young adults: 20 percent of 25-to-34-year-olds use Twitter, as do slightly fewer 18-to-24-year-olds. The results are based on a telephone survey of 2,253 adults.

Twitter, Yammer, Facebook and other micro-blogging platforms might be seen as just another way to self-promote. But more recently they've become journalism tools: reporters including those at ScientificAmerican.com use Twitter as a dedicated newsfeed to keep up with the competition (and, of course, to let colleagues and fans know about their latest stories — we're at http://twitter.com/sciam). We also use Twitter to keep up with our readers, and to solicit ideas from them — to great success during last month's perigee moon. In other instances, non-media people are using it to "report," as well, even if they don’t think of themselves as journalists: a photo of Flight 1549 that crashed in the Hudson River last month instantly became iconic after Janis Krum sent it out over his Twitter feed. On Wednesday, the ShortyAwards honored the most talented Tweeple (or, some might say, Twits), including the Mars Phoenix, which tweeted its demise from the Red Planet.

"It's a tool like we've seen cell phones become a tool in reporting," says Susannah Fox, an associate director at the Pew project and a co-author of the report. "Back in the day, people would snap a picture because they were on the scene. [Now] there's a proliferation of ways to capture what's happening and to broadcast what's happening. The velocity of this kind of sharing is speeding up. It's not a new phenomenon, just more widespread."

That said, many Twitter users embrace the technology as a way of feeling "ambient intimacy," Fox says, just as people share the details of their lives with those far away via the telephone, email and blogging. "What's new about it is the ability to communicate with so many people at once. What's not new about it is you can create niche audiences just like we've been able to with blogs, with listserves back in the day. Twitter and status updating in general is another link in the chain of what we've been seeing the last 10 years."

But if you're annoyed by the content of the tweets in your feed, don’t blame Twitter, Fox says. "New technology is often praised or blamed for human foibles that are universal, whether it is the telephone or social networking sites or now Twitter," she says. "In the hands of some, it will be a tool of self-promotion and for some, other pursuits."

Updated at 6:05 p.m. Feb. 13 with additional context about uses of Twitter.

Image © iStockphoto/Oktay Ortakcioglu

7 Comments

1. 1. EthansDad 10:09 AM 2/14/09

   Ok, so what's it good for? And in particular, why is it better than any other form of communication? Gosh I thought from the title, that this topic would be addressed.

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2. 2. spencerh 03:29 AM 2/15/09

   I give it 12 months until it is superseded by the next meaningless web 2.0 "killer app" and fades into obscurity.

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3. 3. Mikel Martin 04:15 PM 2/16/09

   I think what we are seeing is a revolution in the way people communicate. We are at the very beginning and it will evolve further. So most likely the predictions about twitter being a fad will end up being true. However, consider that people are now able to put there thoughts out into the either and be heard my so many. Also consider the idea that trends can be tracked in real time by monitoring what is posted on sights like this.
   Twitter, Facebook, and others are just the beginning of this new idea, and it will be interesting to see where it takes us.

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4. 4. pgtruspace 02:06 AM 2/17/09

   The chattering class has another venue. People that have more money then brains, more time then they can spend, need more ways to spend time and money talking.

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5. 5. Mark123 04:25 AM 4/20/09

   Do you really guys find it twitter useful? Honestly I'm seeing everyone making a big fuss about it. I dunno if the wrong is in me. Because I really gave it a chance and tried it many times, and it doesn't seem worth all the big fuss. 1. Why is better than for example the status updates on facebook that i've been using,,,reporters and everyone who found twitter useful can do that on an already larger platform with more users even,,, and i find the facebook better cuz it has also alot more functionalities like groups and networks,,, etc.. which could all increase the interaction,,,,, i mean i have a facebook account,,,,why would i need to have also a twitter account,, and confuse my friends by updating my statuses somewhere else (i.e. on twitter),,,, i have seen ashton kutsher on twitter,, but can add friends and do teh same on a fan user account adding all his fans ,, and updating his statuses,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i really don't like doing something just because everyone is doing that (which is that everyone is using twitter,, and i know many don't even know why they're doing that,, or what is twitter even) i really like to understand before i really find twitter that useful,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, 2. Do you really feel safe guys when you update even strangers about every step you do during your day,,,,,,,i have seen accounts for women on twitter writing there full real name beside their twitter username,,,,,,,, ( so anyone can know the real name),,,,, and updating everyone if she is at home or wherever she is,,,,,,,,,,isn't this unsafe as an example............ honestly i don't like following people just to do like them without being convinced by what im doing ,, ,and i honestly don't find it useful for what i said before ,,,mainly because i find that people can do everything on twitter on facebook,,,,and yet all people remain on the same platform and thats it,,,,,,,,,, (P.S. I am not advertising for facebook,, but im saying what i really think,, thats its all on facebook,,)

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6. 6. sabible 06:02 PM 7/24/09

   Its easy to see why Twitter is become increasingly popular. I've only been using it for two days and the amount of useful information (i.e., relating to hobbies/interests, business, personal life, etc.) it makes easily accessible is astounding. I have set up my TweetDeck (an application that sorts the posts of people/orgs you follow on Twitter without you ever going to the Twitter page) to show recent tweets categorized and check back with it every few hours to see if there is anything interesting going on. Instead of opening up a web browser and checking email, CNN, drudgereport, ESPN and all the blogs I would follow, I just open up TweetDeck and all the updates are there in one place. If I want to follow one in more detail I open it up. It reduces my wasted time on the internet by probably 50% and increases the useful amount of info I access by probably the same. It does this by allowing you to "link up" with people/orgs that share similar interests. For example, if I was into surfing (which I'm not), I might be intersted in keeping track of what Kelly Slater is doing by following his Tweets (http://twitter.com/slater9), that might induce me to check out who he is following, or who he is being followed by, and that might turn me onto some surfer I didn't know of, or some surfing org that I wanted to be part of, which I would then follow.
   

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7. 7. RedGen 10:23 AM 8/5/10

   A year on, Twitter is exactly the same as it was, and shows no sign of going anywhere. But it's still just another vehicle for people who feel the need to share their views or thoughts with the world. It is pure narcissism. Most of the content is utter rubbish. You can't blame the tool, but what else was going to be the result with the human race? It serves no real purpose, except to appeal the attention deficit generation, and their need for constant drip feeding. I can't imagine even Socrates or Da Vinci would have been able to put it to good use.

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