Twitter Use More than Doubles

Usage of Twitter has more than doubled in the past year, according to new data from comScore.

In June 2010, nearly 93 million internet users worldwide visited Twitter.com. This marked an increase of 109% from the previous year, as the social networking site achieved strong gains across all global regions.

Latin American Twitter Use Increases Sixfold
An analysis of the five major global regions revealed that Latin America experienced the strongest audience growth between June 2009 and June 2010, surging 305% to 15.4 million users. Asia Pacific ranked as the second-fastest growing region, climbing 243% to 25.1 million visitors. The Middle East and Africa jumped 142% to 5 million visitors, while Europe soared 106% to 22.5 million visitors.

North America, where Twitter has reached a higher maturity level than other regions, saw a growth of 22% to nearly 25 million visitors in June 2010.

Indonesia, Brazil, Venezuela Boast Highest Twitter Penetration
Across the 41 individual countries currently reported by comScore, Indonesia had the highest proportion of its home and work Internet audience visiting Twitter.com (20.8%). Brazil ranked second with 20.5%, followed by Venezuela at 19%. With Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez joining Twitter in late April 2010, Twitter.com penetration in the country spiked 4.8 percentage points in a few months.

The Netherlands (17.7%) and Japan (16.8%) rounded out the top five, while countries in Latin America and Asia Pacific represented many of the remaining top markets, including the Philippines (14.8%), Mexico (13.4%) and Singapore (13.3%).

Canada ranked seventh with 13.5% Twitter.com penetration, while the US ranked 11th with 11.9%.

Smartphones Drive Mobile Twitter Adoption in US and Europe
An analysis of Twitter usage via mobile for the six mobile markets currently reported by comScore (U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Spain and Italy) revealed that Twitter is gaining adoption among smartphone users.

In the US, 8.3% of smartphone users (4.2 million people) accessed Twitter.com in a month via the browser on their mobile devices, outpacing each of the European markets. In Europe, 2.8% of smartphone users overall accessed Twitter.com (1.7 million users), with the UK experiencing the strongest penetration in the region at 5.8%, followed by Germany with 3.1% and France with 2.1%.

Twitter Has Higher Global Reach for Women
Twitter has a marginally higher reach among women than men globally, according to another recent study from comScore. “How Women Are Shaping the Internet” indicates that despite Twitter’s status as a new technology, which is typically tried earlier by men, on a global level, more women are using Twitter. Among all women age 15 and older, Twitter had a reach of about 7% in April 2010, compared to a reach of roughly 6.5% among men age 15 and older.