Everyone on the Web knows that Twitter is the “cool kids club”. That is, the club where “kids who think they’re cool” like to hang out. Full of celebrities, comedians, wannabe celebrities and comedians, and those who like to stay abreast of topical and timely hilarity from celebrities and comedians.
In fact, a new Pew Internet study shows that Twitter is skewing younger (for the Generation Texter – possibly looking to elude their parents who have figured out Facebook but don’t know “what a Twitter is”) and more diverse (growing rapidly through non-white demographics).
Plus, Twitter is where online news breaks first, by definition. It takes less than 4 seconds for a journalist to type “Osama Bin Laden reported dead.” in Twitter and hit ‘send’. Whereas, a traditional media outlet has to get approval after approval to publish. In fact, Drudge Report, which used to be “the first aggregator to get a story” after each big event, seemed incredibly slow the night of the Osama Bin Laden death notice.
Twitter got some flack for not becoming the next Facebook. But, it always sought to be something completely different altogether – the next generation of time-sensitive communication.