Why Do You Tweet?

Written by Frederic Lardinois / July 30, 2009 10:39 AM / 10 Comments

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eMarketer reports that, according to the "Consumer Internet Barometer," the majority of Twitter users (42%) use the service to communicate with their friends. About 29% use Twitter to update their status, 26% to find news, and 21% for work-related reasons. Oddly, only 0.3% said that they use Twitter for fun. Significantly more women use Twitter to keep in touch with friends than men (48.4% vs. 33.6%). Besides this, though, there is little difference between how men and women use the service. About half of the survey respondents were introduced to the service by a friend or family member, and a third heard about Twitter from a co-worker.

Why People Use Twitter

When it comes to different age groups on the service, there are a number of clear differences. Users under 35 are more likely to use Twitter to keep in touch with their friends (43.8% vs. 39% for those over 35). These younger users are also significantly more likely to use Twitter to update their status (38% vs. 19%).

Interestingly, though, users over 35 are far more likely to use Twitter for work-related reasons (29%), and the older the user, the more likely they are to use Twitter for research. 16.2% of those over 55 report that they use Twitter for research purposes, while only 7% of respondents under 35 say that they use Twitter in this fashion.

These numbers clearly show that users under 35 are far more comfortable with the idea of publicly broadcasting their status, while older users tend to have a slightly more utilitarian approach to the service.

Who Do They Talk To?

When it comes to who people talk to on Twitter, women are significantly more likely to use the service to talk to their friends and family members. Almost 30% of all respondents also use the service to interact with celebrities - which is clearly a driving force in the mainstream adoption of the service. About 24% use it to talk to bloggers (you can find RWW here), 13% use it to talk to their employers and co-workers, and 11% use the service to interact with brands.

Great validation for moodspin - most people are seeing Twitter as a main source for communication with friends and family.

12% of Americans Bought Virtual Goods in Past 12 Months: Survey

Wagner James Au | Thursday, July 30, 2009 | 6:00 AM PT | 6 comments

Roughly 12 percent of Americans, or more than one in 10, have bought a virtual item at some point in the last 12 months, according to a new study by analyst firm Frank N. Magid Associates and commissioned by virtual currency provider PlaySpan. With the virtual goods and currency market estimated to reach $1.8 billion this year, the Magid study offers some insight into exactly who’s doing the buying, and where.
Demographically, for example, while 15 percent of males aged 12-24 reported purchasing virtual goods, 15 percent of women between ages 35-44 did so, too. As Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors, put it to me, the boys are getting virtual swords for their MMORPGs, while the women are buying virtual flowers on Facebook. Vorhaus noted that categorization by ethnicity was also diverse, with Asian-Americans on the high end (16 percent), and the rest some 1-5 percent behind.

Segmenting that 12 percent according to consumers’ Internet activity and device ownership, social network gamers and iPhone owners are strongly represented (27 and 28 percent, respectively); PC and handheld console gamers were almost as likely to buy virtual items (between 19 and 22 percent.) However, active console gamers lag just a bit behind those segments.

Unsurprisingly, the most significant variable in purchase rate is virtual world usage: Nearly half of the respondents who report being active MMO participants are also virtual item consumers. (The key challenge for virtual world developers is figuring out how to monetize the other half, something I cover in my recent GigaOM Pro report, subscription required.)

Meanwhile, Eric Hartness, chief marketing officer at PlaySpan, told me he expects that by this time next year, that 12 percent figure will rise to 15-18 percent.

All charts and data courtesy Frank N. Magid Associates and PlaySpan.

Very interesting and validates moodspin's business model...