Twitter More Than Doubles User Numbers

Some 93 million web users went to Twitter.com from work or home computers in June of this year, more than doubling the number of users from the same period a year ago, according to comScore.

ComScore’s count of Twitter.com users excludes the millions of users who access and tweet on Twitter through third-party client applications such as TweetDeck, which launched to beta on Android 12 August.

The 109 percent visitor growth to Twitter.com won’t make anyone mistake the microblog for Facebook, whose 500m users make it easily the largest social network in the world.

It is a sign the service is thriving in the UK and abroad, and has become one of the most-visited social network websites across the world, according to comScore vice president of search and media Graham Mudd.

“Today nearly 3 out of 4 global Internet users access social networking sites each month, making it one of the most ubiquitous activities across the web,” Mudd said.

“As more users around the world have become acquainted with connecting and expressing themselves through social media, it has created an environment where new media like Twitter can emerge globally in a relatively short period of time.”

Latin American Growth

Indonesia sported the highest penetration with 20.8 percent of web visitors flocking to Twitter.com in June. Twitter has also found a comfortable home in Latin America, which boomed 305 percent to 15.4 million users. Brazil and Venezuela had reaches of 20.5 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

Asia Pacific grew 243 percent to 25.1 million visitors. The Middle-East Africa jumped 142 percent to 5 million visitors, while Europe soared 106 percent to 22.5 million visitors.

Twitter.com has shown signs of maturing in the US and Canada as North America saw a relatively modest growth of 22 percent to nearly 25 million visitors in June.

Smartphone Tweets

Those are the desktop numbers. The mobile visits to Twitter.com from a smartphone tell another tale, with the US easily leading the way.

In the US, some 8.3 percent of smartphone users, or 4.2 million people, accessed Twitter.com in a month via the browser on their mobile devices.

That compares to just 2.8 percent of smartphone users overall accessing Twitter.com – 1.7 million users – across Europe.

The UK boasted the strongest penetration in the region at 5.8 percent, followed by Germany with 3.1 percent and France with 2.1 percent.

Spurring Mobile Use

However, Twitter officials will be the first to say they wish these numbers were higher. Twitter was originally designed as an SMS social tool. The company on 10 August launched a Fast Follow feature to spur mobile use.

Still, the proliferation of Apple’s iPhone and smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system should pave the way for greater penetration on Twitter.com from mobile devices.

Twitter’s Places geotagging feature should also lure more Twitter users with smartphones to visit from their handheld gadgets.