â–¶ Twitter’s Time: According to an Edison Research/Arbitron survey, “Twitter Usage in America: 2010,” Twitter has caught up with Facebook in awareness, though still significantly lags in usage. Findings include:
• The percentage of Americans who are familiar with Twitter has surged from 5% in 2008 to 87% in 2010.
• Twitter users frequently use it to exchange information about products and services (42%), share opinions about products and services (41%), ask for opinions (31%) and search for discounts (28%).
• Twitter users are more likely to follow brands and companies than social networkers in general (51% vs. 16%).
• Just 7% are aware of location applications such as FourSquare, Gowalla or Brightkite.
• The majority of Twitter users access the Internet from multiple locations (85%).
• Though the pace of Twitter’s growth in awareness has exceeded that of Facebook, a considerably smaller percentage use it (7%, or 17 million Americans). Roughly six times as many maintain a profile page on Facebook.
Source: Edison Research/Arbitron
These numbers all make sense and really do speak to knowing about something and using it. I for one know about Twitter, I use it at times, but with far less frequency as other channels of communications. Primarily because I don’t want to distill my thoughts into blurgs. I also like to mix use of other channels to enhance opportunity for coverage when it comes to my clients and the opportunity to increase exposure. Because people are still acclimating to the new social media spaces, we communicators need to carefully weigh the importance of various media forms before we cast them to the wind or the latest and newest.