Twitter Surges into the Social Networking Elite

Micro-blogging Site Sees Growth of Over 3700% Since April 2008

Jun 3, 2009

Twitter crashed the party of the social networking elite, joining Facebook, MySpace and Blogger as one of the most used social networking sites in the U.S.

According to a news release from Nielson Online, the Social Networking site Twitter grew 3712% in minutes it's users spent on the site between April 2008 and April 2009. In April 2008, 7.9 Million minutes were spent on Twitter. In April 2009, that amount ballooned to just under 300 Million minutes.

According to Twitter's site, the service was originally released for beta testing in March 2006. Twitter was then launched to the public in August of 2006. Implementing a cross between social networking and blogging called micro-blogging, Twitter has become a national phenomenon. From statistics listed in the Neilson report, the site has vaulted ahead of the Business Networking site LinkedIn to be mentioned in the same breath as industry giants Facebook and Blogger.

Twitter provides a simple service to stay connected with a network of contacts. Through this one portal, you can send messages up to 140 characters to a number of contacts via email or text. The brevity of the message lends itself to quick updates and witty comments. Messages sent through the service are referred to as "tweets".

Twitter has been used by numerous news and political sources including the BBC and The New York Times. Even celebrities have jumped on the bandwagon. According to the site CelebrityTweet, which tracks and reports all celebrity tweets, there are nearly 400 recognized celebrities utilizing the service.

A number of Twitter related sites have emerged to capitalize on the site's growing popularity. From Twittervision, which takes you around the world to show you live tweets as they happen to Twitterholic that shows you Twitter users with the most followers, there are estimated to be hundreds of Twitter related sites and applications according to the Twitter Fan Wiki website (http://twitter.pbworks.com/).

In the micro-blogging arena, Twitter is unchallenged. A number of sites with somewhat similar capabilities exist such as identi.ca, Poodz and Yammer, but Twitter boasts over 20 million more visitors per day than any of it's competition according to the site Tradevibes (http://www.tradevibes.com/company/profile/twitter/competitors).

Despite its stunning growth in the social networking arena, Twitter is estimated to have only reached 22% of consumer’s ages 18 - 24. According to a Participatory Marketing Network (PMN) Study conducted in March 2009, 99% of this market segment has an active profile on at least one social networking site.

"Twitter dominates the news, but clearly we’re only touching the surface of its potential as a marketing vehicle," said Michael Della Penna, co-founder and Executive Chairman of PMN. "It’s clear that Gen Y has an appetite for social networking, but still hasn’t fully embraced micro-blogging."

Since April 2008, social networking titan Facebook has seen a 700% increase in usage, surpassed only by Tagged.com's 998% growth and Twitter's amazing surge.

The copyright of the article Twitter Surges into the Social Networking Elite in Social Networking/Tagging is owned by David Bryan. Permission to republish Twitter Surges into the Social Networking Elite in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.