The Pew Internet and American Life Project has just released their latest findings in a study of how 19% of internet users are now publishing and reading status updates on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. This is an increase of 8% over their findings from last February with 11% of internet users sharing status updates (View the February Report).
The Pew report attributes much of this new traffic to the surge in mobile internet usage in the last year with the rise of the iPhone and other smartphones, as well as laptops and other portable devices:
“As of September 2009, 54% of internet users have a wireless connection to the internet via a laptop, cell phone, game console, or other mobile device. Of those 25% use Twitter or another service, up from 14% of wireless users in December 2008.
Statistical analysis also shows that wireless access is an independent factor in predicting whether someone uses Twitter or another status update service. It is not simply because this group is likely to be young or tech-savvy. Owning and using a wireless internet device makes an internet user significantly more likely to tweet.”
Another interesting tidbit of the report has to do with the varied age demographics and their use of social media sites:
You can read more about the study on Mashable