More People Updating Their Status Than Ever, Study Finds
The human obsession with "status" is almost as old as human history itself. Though the word has a historically hierarchical connotation, contemporary usage of "status" often has a different, more Twitter-ized meaning. Yet the fascination remains strong and, in a hyper-connected world, is rapidly intensifying.
According to a study conducted as part of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, approximately one in every five Internet users either maintains their status via some social networking medium like Twitter or Facebook, or uses similar sites to keep track of others' statuses. A full 19-percent of those surveyed reported using status-updating Web sites, a marked increase from the 11-percent that similar surveys found last April and December.
The study identified three principal groups responsible for the increase; those who use their cell phones to access the Web, and "younger" Internet users -- defined here as anyone under 44 (*sigh of relief*). Not surprisingly, the more gadgets a person owns, the more likely he or she is to update a status. Of people who own four or more devices with Internet access, 39-percent use status-updating sites like Twitter, as compared to 28-percent of those with three devices, 19-percent of those with two, and 10-percent of those with only one. The study also reveals the median age of the everyday Twitter user as 31 -- a figure that has remained constant over the past year. MySpace got a bit younger, with its median shifting from 27 in April to 26 in the latest survey. Meanwhile, Facebook aged ever gracefully from a median of 26 in April to a robust 33 today.
The question of shifting demographics raises an interesting point about this particular study, as subjects surveyed were all over the age of 18. We imagine that these percentages would be even higher if the eternally status-conscious high school population were taken into account. Even without this chunk of NetworkNation, though, the statistics point out the integral role that tweets and real-time status updates are playing in our lives. And, as more people use mobile phones to get online, researchers predict these percentages will only increase. Can't say we'd be surprised. [From: Pew Internet]
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