Pew: Twitter users are younger and more Democratic than most Americans
The most active users are more likely to be women and to tweet regularly about politics.
A recent report from the Pew Research Center says Twitter users are younger, more highly educated, have higher incomes and are more likely to identify as Democrats compared to the general public. They're also more likely to support immigration and see evidence of racial- and gender-based inequality in society. This might be surprising given how loud opposing views can appear on the platform.
The study looked at a sampling of 2,791 US adult Twitter users. The median age of those users was 40, compared to 47, the national median age of adults. According to the report, 42 percent of adult Twitter users have a bachelor's degree, compared to 31 percent of the general public. The breakdown is almost the same when it comes to income. An estimated 41 percent of Twitter users earn more than $75,000, while just 32 percent of the general public meet that benchmark. In terms of gender, race and ethnicity, though, the makeup of Twitter users is similar to the adult population as a whole.
It might not come as a shock that a handful of Twitter users are the most vocal, but the report finds that just 10 percent of users are responsible for 80 percent of tweets created by US adults. The median Twitter users post twice a month, while the most active accounts produce roughly 138 tweets in the same time. The most active users are also more likely to be women and to tweet regularly about politics.
The report paints an interesting picture of the average Twitter user, especially given all the news about abuse and harassment on the platform, Twitter's complicated role in meddling with elections and bans on conservative users who violate the company's terms. As social media platforms face their darker sides, it could be helpful to have this kind of demographic breakdown.
