US teens embrace Twitter with one quarter now signed up
Almost a quarter of teenagers in the US now hold a Twitter account, significantly more than the 16 per cent figure for the wider population - according to a new Pew Research Centre report.
It found that 24 per cent of teens are now signed up, a substantial jump on the 16 per cent who did so in 2011 highlighting the growing diversity of social media habits.
This growth wasn’t sufficient to usurp Facebook as the dominant platform however which boasts an adoption rate of 94 per cent.
Also, whilst 81 per cent say Facebook soaks up the majority of their time spent on social media just 7 per cent said the same thing for Twitter.
This lead may not be quite so inassailable as the raw figures imply however with many teens professing more excitement for services such as Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr – where they are less likely to encounter the prying eyes of family members.
Report author Mary Madden said: “Adults were the first to colonise Twitter. However, teens are now migrating to Twitter in growing numbers, often as a supplement to their Facebook use.”