The number of Americans using Twitter, the online status updating service, has grown substantially in the past few months. As of May 2011, 13% of online adults use Twitter, up from 8% in November 2010. That November survey was the first time the Pew Internet and American Life Project specifically asked about Twitter instead of asking a broader question about generic status updating services. While young adults (those ages 18 to 24) continue to be the most likely to use Twitter, slightly older adults are more rapidly joining Twitter than are the youngest adults. From November to May, the percentage of adults ages 25 to 34 using Twitter grew from 9% to 19%, and from 8% to 14% among adults ages 35 to 44. Meanwhile, Twitter adoption over the same time period was stable among the youngest adults. Also, while Twitter use grew among all racial groups, non-white internet users continue to have higher rates of Twitter use than did their white counterparts. Read More

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Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.