Twitter growth goes through the roof

by Rich Bowden - Apr 16 2009, 15:00

According to newly released figures from traffic-monitoring company ComScore Media Metrix, the popularity of micro-blogging site Twitter exploded by 131 percent during the month of March.

The company monitored the number of visitors to the site Twitter.com as being 9.3 million, a surge of over five million users from comparable statistics in February.

ComScore's Andrew Lipsman said much of the site's popularity could be put down to the plethora of positive media coverage regarding the site.

"It seems you can't get through a typical newscast anymore without some mention of Twitter," said Lipsman in a blogpost reported by Information Week.

He also said the micro-blogging site benefits from being used in the upper tiers of government decision making as well.

"If you watched the news this past week, you might've heard that Newt Gingrich levied criticism of President Obama's response to the Somali pirate standoff over Twitter," he said, referring to the former Congressman's use of Twitter to deliver a broadside over the Obama administration's handling of the crisis.

"I mean, we're talking about the highest levels of government here, and a microblogging site is being used as a top politician's primary media outlet?"

He added that, far from being a site to "catch up" with friends, Twitter is changing the way we consume news.

"Like it or not, Twitter is quickly revolutionizing the way our entire news ecosystem operates, from journalist to consumer, and blurring the lines in between," he said.

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