A very small study (200 participants) by Participatory Marketing Network is making news this week with its finding that 18 to 24 year olds are not jumping on the Twitter bandwagon: “only 22 percent are using Twitter.” A number of folks are saying this shows Twitter is failing to lure the key demographic of young people.
Hold on! When seen in proper context, PMN’s findings indicate that Millenials are catching on to Twitter.
Millenials and Gen-Xers are more likely to be twittering than the rest of adults
Compared to Millenials’ use of online social networks like Facebook or Myspace at levels of around 75 percent and higher, 22 percent may seem small. But Twitter is much newer a popular phenomenon that hasn’t had the same amount of time to penetrate the market. We’re still pretty early in the life of social media. Let’s look at apples-to-apples.
Other recent surveys have found to the Twitter usage by just 7 to 11 percent of American adults overall. PMN’s 22 percent figure for Millenials shows they are picking up Twitter as much or more than any other demographic, including the 25-34 year olds who are using Twitter at fairly similar rates, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Use of online social media has mainly been concentrated among young people. Twitter’s adoption pattern has trended slightly older than other online social media (except for LinkedIn), but remember that Facebook began as a social network on college campuses.
PMN’s press release is being reported as showing that “Millenials don’t appreciate Twitter,” when the reality is that most people don’t get Twitter yet, but more young people do than the rest of us — and that’s not a surprise.
