Pew Internet

poynterinstitute:

onaissues:

What am I supposed to tweet about? : Columbia Journalism Review

An important question. Another: Are you following us? 

And we’ll add - 16% of internet users use Twitter. Just keep tweeting :)

NEW REPORT OUT TODAY —

39% of American adults (66% of social media users) have used social media platforms to engage in at least 1 of 8 civic or political activities:

• 38% of those who use social networking sites (SNS) or Twitter use those social media to “like” or promote material related to politics or social issues that others have posted. Liberal Democrats who use social media are particularly likely to use the ‘like’ button—52% of them have done so and 42% of conservative Republicans have also done so.
• 35% of social media users have used the tools to encourage people to vote. Democrats who are social media users are more likely to have used social media to encourage voting—42% have done that compared with 36% of Republican social-media users and 31% of independents.
• 34% of social media users have used the tools to post their own thoughts or comments on political and social issues. Liberal Democrats who use social media (42%) and conservative Republicans (41%) are especially likely to use social media this way.
• 33% of social media users have used the tools to repost content related to political or social issues that was originally posted by someone else.  Republican social media users are more likely to do this on social media—39% have used social media to repost content, compared with 34% of social media using Democrats and 31% of independents.
• 31% of social media users have used the tools to encourage other people to take action on a political or social issue that is important to them. Some 36% of social-media-using Democrats have done this as have 34% of Republicans. This compares to 29% of independents who are social media users.
• 28% of social media users have used the tools to post links to political stories or articles for others to read. The social media users who are liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans are the most likely to have used social media this way (39% and 34% respectively).
• 21% of those who use SNS or Twitter belong to a group on a social networking site that is involved in political or social issues, or that is working to advance a cause. There are no major differences by ideology or partisanship when it comes to using social media this way.
• 20% of social media users have used the tools to follow elected officials and candidates for office.  Some 32% of the conservative Republicans who use social media follow officials on social media and 27% of liberal Democrats who use social media do so.

Which of these do you engage in regularly?

Chart of the week: Twitter adoption by age, 2010-2012

In addition to increasing on an overall basis, the proportion of young internet users who use Twitter on a typical day also doubled over the last year. Fully one in five internet users ages 18-24 (20%) now use Twitter on a typical day, up from 9% in May 2011.

Read more …

Chart of the week: Who uses Twitter?

Several demographic groups stand out as having high rates of Twitter usage relative to their peers:

• African-Americans — Black internet users continue to use Twitter at high rates. More than one quarter of online African-Americans (28%) use Twitter, with 13% doing so on a typical day.
• Young adults — One quarter (26%) of internet users ages 18-29 use Twitter, nearly double the rate for those ages 30-49. Among the youngest internet users (those ages 18-24), fully 31% are Twitter users.
• Urban and suburban residents — Residents of urban and suburban areas are significantly more likely to use Twitter than their rural counterparts.

Read more …

Meta tweeting.

pewresearch:

As is often the case, pop culture icons were a hot topic on Twitter last week. The No. 1 subject was the Irish-British band One Direction. It has already been one of the top five subjects on Twitter six times in 2012.

The rampant spread of the viral Kony 2012 video: New Pew Research Center analysis

In case you missed it yesterday, a new Pew Research Center report tracks how the “Kony 2012” video and information about it reached so many Americans in a relatively short period of time, and the critical role social media played, especially for adults under age 30.

Fast facts:

• 27% of young adults first heard about it through social media such as Facebook or Twitter and another 8% learned about it via other internet sources
• The internet was more than three times more important as a news-learning platform for young adults than traditional media such as television, newspapers, and radio
• For those ages 30-49, the mix of news sources was about even: 22% first learned of the “Kony 2012” video from internet sources – 15% via social media – and 21% learned from traditional media sources
• 66% of the Twitter conversation from March 5-12 supported the anti-Kony campaign; 17% was skeptical or negative about it; and 16% was neutral (mostly consisting of people asking questions about what was going on)