Twitter Turns 7
As Twitter reaches its seventh birthday and with half of us in GB using social networks, the Ipsos Tech Tracker looks at whether the social network has grown big enough to attain a long life-span.
Social networkers are leading the always-on, connected generation. We have seen ownership of smartphones and tablets leap to over 53% and 25% respectively as of January 2013, but these figures are even more pronounced when we look at those that use social networks. Close to nine in ten of Twitter users also own a smartphone, with iPhone the most popular handset, reflecting the instant and always on nature of the platform. Reflecting its business audience, LinkedIn users are the most likely to own a tablet, with ownership standing at 45%. The ability of social networks to adapt to the needs of the new mobile generation will be key to the next stages of their development.
The number of us using a social network in the UK has remained stable over the past year at around one in two of us. Each of the networks have only seen small increases in penetration. The profiles of each of the social networks is also fairly stable – Facebook still reflects the GB online population; Twitter is younger and more affluent and LinkedIn is older, more affluent with a male skew. So, while we may be seeing Twitter growing up and reaching maturity, what is encouraging for the platform as it reaches its seventh birthday is the high proportion of under 25s using the network, providing a strong base who can grow up with the social network over its next phase of development.
Designers' Note
by Imran Abdul-Hakeem
An infographic is worth hundreds of thousands of words. If you let a reader choose between a full-length 1000-word article and an infographic that needs a few scroll-downs, they would probably prefer absorbing information straight from the infographic, as people want information quickly and in an easily digestible format.
With this in mind we set out to visualise and explain the growth in popularity of Twitter since its inception seven years ago. To coincide with it's seventh birthday, this special infographic was created to locate its place in the world of social media.
It was clear up front that a nature theme would be more close to Twitter's brand. Also, I tried to integrate the statistical information naturally, on this occasion, by using the sky, tree, eggs and leaf visuals without modifying or altering their brand identity. Specific colour combinations and tints were applied for each demographic element to highlight every segment, especially for age and social grade bands, as they were very small.
Focussing my efforts on mashing up the theme and colours to reflect and celebrate Twitter's anniversary gave the concept an up-lift and the end result was a no-jargon, quick overview visual for social media enthusiasts.
