Most people who read my blog and know me will know how much I love Twitter. I find it fascinating how Twitter has grown, it really has had an exponential growth in terms of membership, usage and popularity so today I thought I would share with you 50 fascinating facts about Twitter:
- 5 years ago Twitter was just an idea with only 3 people working on it.
- Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched on the 15th July 2006.
- Twitter’s origins lie in a “day long brainstorming session” that was held by board members of the podcasting company Odeo. While sitting in a park and eating Mexican food, Dorsey introduced the idea of Twitter.
- The first Twitter prototype was an internal service for Odeo employees.
- The original project code name for the service was ‘twttr‘. It was inspired by the name of the site ‘Flickr’ and SMS short codes.
- The name was finalised as Twitter (as we know), meaning ‘chirps from birds’ and more relevantly ‘a short burst of inconsequential information’.
- The 2007 South by Southwest (SXSW) festival was a pivotal point in Twitters popularity. During the event, Twitter usage increased from 20,000 tweets per day to 60,000.
- Twitter had 400,000 tweets posted per quarter in 2007.
- In 2008 there were only 3 million registered users and only 1.25 million tweets per day.
- In 2009 Twitter had 8 million registered users.
- From 8 employees in 2008 to over 400 employees in 2011.
- Top 3 countries: US (107.7 million), Japan (29.9 million) and Brazil (33.3 million).
- It took 3 years, 2 months and 1 day to tweet to the billionth Tweet.
- Today it only takes one week for users to send a billion Tweets.
- In March 2010 the average number of tweets people sent per week was 350 million. In February 2011 the average number of tweets people sent per day was 140 million.
- The most popular Twitter user by number of followers is Lady Gaga. She has more than 18 million followers. She gains followers faster than Twitter adds new accounts.
- When Michael Jackson died (June 25 2009) there were 456 tweets per second (a record-breaker for its time).
- The current tweets per second record is 6,939 tweets per second. This was set 4 seconds after midnight in Japan on New Year’s Day.
- On March 12, 2011, 572,000 new accounts were created on that one day.
- The average number of new accounts per day created in February 2011 was 460,000.
- The number of mobile users have increased by 182% over the past year.
- There are an estimated 225 million users in March 2011.
- In 2010, 25 billion tweets sent and 100 million new accounts were added on Twitter.
- The first unassisted off-Earth Twitter message was posted from the International Space Station by NASA astronaut T. J. Creamer on 22nd January 2010.
- 92% Reweet due to interesting content.
- 64% access through Twitter.com. 10% through Twitter client. 16% through mobile application.
- 69% decide who to follow through suggestions from their friends.
- The most Tweeted sports moment (and superbowl moment) of all time… @TimTebow game winning Touchdown pass to beat Pittsburgh in the first round of the playoffs.
- Twitter is ranked as one of the ten most visited websites.
- Tweets are mostly conversational (38%) and pointless babble (40%).
- Demographics of Twitter users: 54% female. 53% no kids. Users range from incomes of £0-30k (17%) to over £100k (30%). 41.5% are aged 18-39.
- Twitter is approaching 500 Million Users – Estimated to reach this in 8 days, 7 hours.
- Currently, Twitter is growing at over 1.123 million accounts per day, which amounts to more than 13 new accounts per second.
- In the 5 years since launching it has attracted significant investment funds with an estimated total capital raising of over $1.3 billion. The most significant investment was Digital Sky Technology in August, 2010, which was at over $800 million.
- In June 2011, it was announced that Twitter would be embedded in the new Apple mobile operating system. After the launch of the new Apple mobile iOS5 operating system, Twitter registered sign ups had increased by 300% per day.
- 60% of new users are coming from outside the U.S.
- 10 tweets per second mention Starbucks.
- IBM can predict wait times at airports by crowdsourcing information from tweets. They search tweets for mentions of airports, then send an @reply to the tweeters and ask them to reply with wait times.
- Scientists can tell with great accuracy where you are from just by the words you use in your tweets.
- People are more inclined to Tweet something negative than positive. 80% of customer service tweets are negative.
- Every public tweet since Twitter’s inception in March 2006 will be archived digitally at the Library of Congress. IBM plans to map every archived tweet to Wikipedia, and tag it with sentiment, to make them more digestible.
- Twitter has been valued at $8 billion.
- 85% of recruiters use Twitter for recruitment.
- 81% of users follow less than 100 people.
- 61% of all tweets are in English.
- 5% of users create 75% of the content
- 75% of traffic comes from outside of the Twitter interface.
- 66% of questions asked have some commercial intent.
- I started using Twitter in 2008 and currently have 58,572 followers
- I have spent a record 4 hours on Twitter in one day…
Have you got any fun/interesting facts about Twitter? Please do leave a comment and share what you love/hate about Twitter
Lilach
Founder at Socialable Ltd
Lilach Bullock is passionate about getting tangible results using social media. Listed in Forbes as one of the top 20 women social media power influencers. She's the co-author of "Images that Influence" (Number One in its category on Amazon). Lilach is consulted by journalists and regularly quoted in newspapers on social media related matters, including (Forbes, Social Media Today, Prima Magazine, The Sunday Times and BBC Radio 5 Live ). A keynote speaker at business and marketing seminars.
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62 Responses to 50 Twitter facts that’ll fascinate small businesses
Excellent facts thanks you! I love to get my daily fix of information so this post was just made for me
A couple of the facts really jumped out at me:
85% of recruiters use Twitter for recruitment.
5% of users create 75% of the content
It’s those sort of figures which keep me using Twitter and following you!
Jenny Braithwaite recently posted..Extra day for Leap Year – How Will You use It?
Twitter: edenaccountant
Quick question Lilach, how do I get my photo to show like everyone else’s?
Jenny Braithwaite recently posted..Extra day for Leap Year – How Will You use It?
Twitter: edenaccountant
You need to create a gravatar (assigned to your email) so that whenever you post a comment anywhere it will always show your piccie. It’s quick and free to set up – read my post here on how to do it:) http://www.socialable.co.uk/create-a-gravatar-in-5-easy-steps/
Twitter: lilachbullock
Thanks so much Jenny:) I had great fun researching for this article. Great to have you as a follower too:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
When I first got on Twitter (was it 2008? 2009?), I had no idea what to do. All I knew was my software engineer friend said her teacher said it was going to be important. So I set up an account and left it alone. Then a blogger friend said she was on Twitter, and so I followed her. Finally, a reason at least to look! Fast forward to 2012, I have met so many people locally (in New Jersey) via Twitter, plus established some new business clients, plus learned from people around the world – but not everyone likes communicating in 140 words.
Leora Wenger recently posted..Please Take LinkedIn Survey
Twitter: leoraw
Thanks Leora:) I too was an early follower and it’s amazing to see how it has progressed.
I love how I meet people all over the world and have made so many wonderful friendships as well as business connections:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
This is a fascinating list of facts about one of my favourite social media spaces! Thank you for posting, I have shared everywhere available to me. The growth rate of Twitter is simply astounding isn’t it? From 8 employees to 400 in 3 years! All from an internal site idea! Genius.
Samantha Hallam recently posted..Preparing for another night out singing
Twitter: SamanthaLuigie
Thanks Samantha:) It’s incredible when you realise how far it’s come. Can you remember life before Twitter lol
Twitter: lilachbullock
Fascinating! Especially since I’m one of those who, although I have three Twitter accounts and have posted piles of Tweets over the past several years, has yet to figure out the real value of Twitter. Admittedly, I’ve never really taken the time to learn how to use Twitter correctly for my business, so I shouldn’t be surprised at the fact that I’ve never gotten any direct business out of it (and I’ve never used it for personal stuff). Sometimes I feel like it’s just throwing under cooked spaghetti against the wall hoping some of it will stick. My other question has always been, “Who in the world actually READS Tweets?” Hmmmmm . . . maybe that’s where I’m missing out.
Steve Vernon recently posted..Are you a dream chaser?
Twitter: dolphingroup
Thanks Steve – if only it was as easy as throwing spaghetti at a wall lol
You have to remember that if you want people to read your tweets you need to be creative and come up with interesting tweets that grab the attention of people’s home streams which can be incredibly busy.
Twitter is excellent for getting more traffic and ultimately sales/more business but it’s like anything in marketing you have to have a plan and take action:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Some very interesting facts here Lilach, but what bothers me about all these Twitter statistics is that there must be hundreds of thousand of people who post to Twitter automatically,but who never actually visit the site at all. Yet these folk show up as active Twitter users.
What is your take on this?
Dave
David Sharp recently posted..Super Mind Power and Creating Abundance
Twitter: davidgsharp
Thanks David:) You will always get people who abuse Twitter/Facebook and spam and set up multiple accounts without any real interaction but it’s easy to spot these people…
I do use automatic tools and am an advocate of them but only when used in conjunction with real “live” engagement.
At the end of the day to have a successful Twitter campaign you need to be engaging and building relationships:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
I like that “pointless babble” is now quantifiable data. (#30)
Twitter: triporama
Thanks Wendell – yep lots of that about hehe lol
Twitter: lilachbullock
I adore Twitter. I picked up my magazine column entirely via Twitter, got bunches of offers from agents and publishers, and was able to turn them down and still reach the bestseller lists just because of the influence I had on Twitter. It’s a phenomenal place for writers. Love it. Great post.
Rebecca Woodhead recently posted..When the Sh*t Hits the Fan … Get Resilient!
Twitter: rebeccawoodhead
Thanks Rebecca:) Great to see another fan and someone who not only embraced Twitter but got so much from it:) It just goes to show that when leveraged well the power of Twitter:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Hi Lilach,
Interesting facts I didn’t expect that twitter is so popular in Brazil and Japan I though that after USA the next countries would be UK and European countries, interesting stuff…
Kostas recently posted..Your Guide to Social Media Success
Twitter: opportplanet
Thanks Kostas:) Yes I too thought UK would be higher up… but I guess it may also be that there’s more people there too!
Twitter: lilachbullock
Those are some impressive numbers but we need to take into consideration all the false accounts – there are a few…
Thanks Zinedine:) Yes that’s very true, there are also many inactive accounts too. I’ll have to do some research to see if there are any stats with active accounts only…
Twitter: lilachbullock
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Lilach,
Thank you for all of you research.
I must follow the most positive people on twitter because I read wonderful inspirational tweets all day.
I was amazed to learn that~~~
40. People are more inclined to Tweet something negative than positive. 80% of customer service tweets are negative.
And that all tweets will be archived~~~
41. Every public tweet since Twitter’s inception in March 2006 will be archived digitally at the Library of Congress. IBM plans to map every archived tweet to Wikipedia, and tag it with sentiment, to make them more digestible.
Twitter: JBuongermino
Thanks Janis:) It just goes to show how people like to mix with like-minded people. I mainly see positive tweets too… I’m not interested in following moaners/whiners lol
However I think that people take to Twitter when they have a problem with a company – I know I have… (I had a major problem with Virgin and set up a campaign which went viral that within an hour they phoned me!!)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Fascinating list – not at all suprised about the percentage of negative tweets. All you have to do is follow one of the daily hashtags – which, I confess I occasionally do because they are also pretty funny
marquita herald recently posted..When You Can’t Stop Beating Yourself Up for Past Mistakes
Twitter: marquitaherald
Thanks Marquita:) Yes sometimes some of the things you see are hilarious… the trending topics can certainly be interesting:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Hi Lilach,
Twitter has always been kind of a mystery to me… kind of like sitting in a field full of ten thousand chirping birds, trying to get heard. I made it a goal for this year to learn how to use it better, since I know it can be done. I am planning to use TweetAdder to help me automate some of the things I want to do…maybe I won’t be so shy about logging onto Twitter if I feel like I am getting to know some people there. Thanks for a great list. I shared it all over.
Lou
Lou Barba recently posted..Get With the Program, Mr. Sandman
Twitter: planlablprecher
Thanks Lou, appreciate the share:) I personally wouldn’t recommend you use TweetAdder… they’ve experienced problems with accounts being shut down.
Definitely don’t be shy – you need to share your beautiful stories:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Those are some crazy and random twitter facts Lilach. It has become one of those tools that people love because it is easy to keep up with hot topics and interesting conversations (now around the world).
Thanks for sharing it.
Terry Petrovick recently posted..How to use Pinterest to Build Your Business
Twitter: terrypetrovick
Thanks Terry, my pleasure:) I love Twitter, it’s completely transformed my business:)
Twitter: lilachbullock
Hi Lilach
Thanks for this interesting info about Twitter.
Wow to day you can talk to the world in a sec and almost every one online know it LOL
I love the stats that you give.
Regards
Theuns
Theuns recently posted..The ABC and Failing forward to Success
Twitter: GratitudeGame
Lilach, an impressive set of statistics especially recently heading towards 500 million users! Your stats are quite impressive too – 58K users, nice!
Keep moving forward.
Alan
Alan Turner recently posted..Try NOT to re-invent the Wheel: Network Marketing Pitfalls For Newbies to Avoid (5)
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Interesting about most customer service tweets being negative. I personally get tired of grumpy gusses on twitter and refreshing when someone compliments a business, service, etc…
Wow to all the new accounts created per day? Are these automatically created? Unless I missed it, I wonder if there is a stat to show how many new accounts are created and not used or used for a bit and then forgotten about? Hmmm…
Good post and thks for all the facts.
Jacob Yount recently posted..40 Days & Nights – Final Days Living in China
Twitter: jlmade
great post with so much information about the twitter comapnay . am so amazed that started just from 3 .
Fascinating collection of twitter facts, Lilach. A collection such as this can only come from a true twitter lover such as yourself. I think master twitter users know how to find gold in the endless tweet chatter and how to really connect with people on twitter. Again, I think you are one of them. I love all of the facts above, but one of my favorites is “Twitter is growing at over 1.123 million accounts per day.” Wow!
Srinivas Reddy recently posted..Resolve Unfinished Business
Twitter: SrinivasYReddy
awesome post, awesome Twitter!
so many cool facts – this one stood out to me “Currently, Twitter is growing at over 1.123 million accounts per day, which amounts to more than 13 new accounts per second.” CRAZY STAT!!
thanks Lilach,
Carl.
Carl Ashton recently posted..Control Your Focus – Grow Your Empire
Twitter: CarlDavidAshton
Phew ….. 50 was a BIG read Lilach. Like the last one though “I once spent 4 hours on Twitter” But you are the twitter traffic queen and you have a really responsive twitter community. We need to learn this from you. Great and valuable post as always. Chris & Susan
Susan recently posted..The Truth Hurts – Winners and Losers
Twitter: chris_susan
Wow – some fantastic facts there. A bit worried about number 15, though – if we have to get our number of tweets up to 140 million a day, I can see we’re going to have some pretty sore thumbs
Carole and Ivan recently posted..Video marketing triumph (and disaster!)… and a whole bunch of other great stuff
Twitter: CaroleAndIvan
Hey Lilach,
This was a really interesting read. I love the #1. Anything is just an idea before one implements it..If inspiration comes and you take action something great will happen. Twitter is the perfect example
#27 people decide who to follow based on recomendations from friends. This is a big wake up call to invest in building quality relationships with people. In an era where technology grows like crazy, word of mouth from friends is still dominant.
I’m focusing more on learning FBK now but after that Twitter is on my list. Definitely something to use to grow one’s business.
Thanks for sharing Lilach
All the best,
Radu
Radu recently posted..Blog Content Ideas: 40 Simple Ways To Never Run Dry
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Very cool posts… haha.. thanks for taking the time to list those!
John Moussan recently posted..How To Make Money In MLM?
Twitter: johnmoussan
A very cool interesting post and by my experiment twitter really helps seo people it is becoming a use full tool .
Wow Lilach, these facts are amazing! And it proves why people my age are not as involved in it – 18-39! I am part of a twitterfeed tribe, and my blog syndicates to Twitter every time I post. I do get new followers every day, and most of them I accept and follow back. Occassionally, I send a tweet to someone I have something in common with. But that’s it for now. I can see how Twitter can be a major asset to a business owner! Thanks for the fact list!
Val
Val Heisey recently posted..Shhh…. It’s a secret! You’ve got one more chance to fast track your MLM Business…
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Great post, interesting as always and awesome facts. I love my facts especially twitter facts and it is crazy how twitter has grown since it was first created, mind blowing
keep up the great work
lewys
Twitter: lewys_sfm
Hi Lilach,
Wow, amazing numbers. It also seem that you are doing extremely well on Twitter. I wish I could say the same
My interest in Twitter was a slow one, and I still have not really managed to fully understand how you attract people on Twitter except by twitting and retwiting their stuff as well as mine 
How did you get to that amazing following?
Twitter: SylvianeNuccio
I think these facts are pretty awesome. I remember when MJ died. Twitter was on a constant shutdown status. Complete tweet overload. LOL. I can only imagine how much impact Twitter will have in the near future.
John recently posted..YouTube – one of the best ways to build your home business
Twitter: makemoney2blog
It was physically impossible to watch Mastermind UK and follow the Twitter feed at the same time ! Isn’t that bit self defeating ?
Twitter: sayates
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Thank you for an excellent post! I actually just started using Twitter a few days ago and already have 145 followers which surprises me! I don’t really understand Twitter. I appreciate your facts. I will retweet it.
Blessings, Victoria Douglas
Victoria Douglas recently posted..Advertisements Can Lead to Eating Disorders
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Nice one Lilach,
I had joined facebook and so many other social networks before I joined Twitter in 2010. At first, Twitter had appeared strange with its 140 character limit and TimeLine design, but this character limit soon became a challenge to always look forward to and the TimeLine design turned out a style of its own in the social network industry. The growth of Twitter client base as well has been fascinating, both with network partners and end account users. The Twitter ‘@’ handle too is an innovation in user identification that endears the Twitter social network brand to me. About a year and few months now since my account was created with Twitter, I have gained just over 1,400 followers, quality followers. I have promoted my skills, gained business contacts and learned using Twitter.
Ahmed A. Hassan recently posted..Our Literati, a poem by Ahmed Hassan
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$8 billion- ’40% pointless babble’
that’s 3.2 billion dollars worth of utter pointlessness!
fantastic
clark james recently posted..Commercial
Twitter: clarkjamesphoto
Lilach,
So many facts and nuggets of info! This post is will be a resource for future articles!!
Urban Renstrom recently posted..How to Connect with Customers on Google Plus [video, infographic]
Twitter: urbanrenstrom
Interesting stats there Lilach. The one that hit me most is #3, how simple the idea came about. Most of the time we lock ourselves in the room hoping to see the bright lights of heaven shine on us when in actual fact a lazy relation in a garden chair whilst admiring the greens can spark up the best ideas of all times. History proves this. Isaac newton, Archimedes etc the list is long
Twitter: sparks_SM
Fun facts, but one I would challenge: the valuation at $8 billion! These figures are almost systematically over-rated, as the Facebook IPO showed to dramatic results.
Twitter: thewritestuff1
Interesting and very usefull facts,i appreciate it,thanks.
I enjoy using twitter as a source of sharing marketing information and ideas to my followers. As a result, I read many articles from multiple sources, in order to provide my followers with great content. By reading all these articles, I am the true beneficiary as I am learning so much more and staying on top of industry trends, competition, and ideating for my own company. Plus I have made several “virtual friends” that have provided entertainment, education, and enlightenment for me. Thanks Lilach for sending this information and establishing this forum for comments. I have followed you for a year now and you are one of my favorites!
Twitter: cpascalar
Hi Lilach,
sorry for this but just could not resist! First off thanks for this post where did you get the info from? Anyway down to business (and after reading all the other comments that no-one else has spotted this) .
On point 1 you mention that Twitter was just an idea 5 years ago and was created on March 2006 and Launched July 2006. If my maths is correct that would make Twitter six and a half years nearly 7 years old in March 2013.
Anyway I am loving the new blog design its incredibly vibrant and good on the eyes! Just thought I would give you a heads up anyway!
Cheers…
Phillip
Phillip Dews recently posted..Build a Custom PHP and CSS Twitter Widget
Twitter: BrummieWeb
Love that every 10th Tweet is of Starbucks. Seriously, I think they’re taking over the world one chai latte (no water, my fave) at a time. It’s also amazing what can happen when you get a bunch of brilliant heads together. I would have loved to be a fly on that wall. Thanks for these little tidbits, Lilach
D. Dixon recently posted..How I (Purposely) Got My Twitter Account Suspended – Part 1
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
For me Twitter is best and only newspaper I’m actually reading. Few years ago I didn’t know what to do there, but today Twitter is more important to me than Facebook
DlaGeeka Filmy Recenzje recently posted..Zero bezwzględne, napęd warp i NASA trollująca Marsa
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Hello,
Some very interesting facts here Lilach, but what bothers me about all these Twitter statistics is that there must be hundreds of thousand of people who post to Twitter automatically
Thank you
Kent Morris recently posted..Revitalize Your Life with 50 State Legal Herbal Incense
Twitter is newer than I thought. I guess that’s why I am trying to get a handle on it without much success. I think to myself that I don’t have time to get tied up in it. Thanks for the facts, Lilach.
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