Pew: Twitter Usage Grows to 13% With African-Americans Leading Adoption

Thirteen percent of the U.S. online population now uses Twitter at least occasionally, according to new research from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, marking a significant increase from the 8% previously measured in November 2010. Growth was especially strong among non-Hispanic Whites and those between 30 and 49 years old.

Among online African-Americans, fully 25% use Twitter at least occasionally, with 11% using the service on a typical day. Latinos are also very likely to use Twitter, with 19% using the service, and 5% doing so daily. Whites are much less likely to use Twitter, with just 9% of the online population reporting using the service, and only 3% in a typical day.

The other group that’s growing especially quickly is 30-49 year olds. Back in November of 2010, only 7% used Twitter, and now 14% are using the service, representing a doubling of usage. The 25-34 year-old subset were responsible for much of this growth, as use doubled from 9% to 19% from November to May. Internet users between 35 and 44 years old also increased use dramatically, from 8% in late 2010 to 14% currently. Adoption was stable among young adults, aged 18 to 24, though a solid proportion (18%) of them are still using Twitter.

For the first time, Pew asked cell-phone owning Twitter users if they accessed the service on their phones, and found that 54% did so.

The report was based on telephone interviews of 2,277 adults conducted from April 26 to May 22, 2011. Pew says it the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.