I posted previously on the number of Canadians on Twitter which I calculated from reputable statistics but since they were written in my little paper notebook I did not note the source. This post should redeem me hopefully as I received several requests to provide further information.
What initially prompted my first post was that the only figure I could readily find on the number of Canadians on Twitter was 47% percent. I found it very difficult, if not impossible, to believe this number. Given that the results were gleaned from a survey by a Vancouver internet marketing firm I supposed that likely their database consisted of people who have a high likelihood of using Twitter.
- There are currently 200 million registered accounts on Twitter.
- 43% of users are True Twitter Users (More than 10 tweets, 10 Followers and 10 Followed)
- 80% have fewer than 500 tweets.
- Canada consists of 2.5% of the traffic on Twitter – assumption being that the ratio of web / mobile usage is the same across all countries.
- The population of Canada is 34,441,442.
200,000,000 Twitter Accounts > 2.5% Canadian Traffic = 5,000,000 Canadian Twitter Accounts = 14.5% of Canadians have a Twitter Account
or 19.9% of Canadians with Internet Access Have a Twitter Account
5,000,000 > 43% True Twitter Users = 2,150,000 True Twitter Users in Canada = 6.2% of Canadians are True Twitter Users
5,000,000 > 20% more than 500 Tweets = 1,000,000 Canadian Twitter Users with More than 500 Tweets = 2.9% of Canadians have in excess of 500 Tweets
This might not seem like a lot, but let me put it this way. In Canada you are more likely to have a Twitter account than…
- Have diabetes
- Own a pet other than a dog or cat
- Have voted for the Bloc Quebecois in the 2011 election
Now that we know how many Canadians are using Twitter, how are they using it? I have asked this question for a while, and I have had some people observe that Canadians use Twitter just like everybody else. But I am a firm believer that around the world people are using technologies in different ways that are most appropriate culturally. Canadians are no different and no less distinct.
The following are the results from my Twitter In Canada survey. The survey received 85 responses and it appears that many of the responses came from Ontario. This survey was shared from my Twitter account and was retweeted several times by many Canadians across the country, however I do believe that geographical proximity of followers was a constraint in distributing this properly across all provinces.
Popularity: 30% [?]