Social media site 'sees healthy growth'

Twitter is estimated to have 18 million users in 2009 according to an expert from eMarketer, but they claim their prediction is conservative.

Twitter has seen healthy growth in the last three months, but predictions of increased use in the future should be conservative, according to an industry commentator.

These comments came after eMarketer reported that there will be a 200 per cent increase in Twitter users in the US between 2008 and 2009 to 18 million people.

Paul Verna, senior analyst at the marketing website, claimed that despite healthy growth there had been signs that a lot of people are trying the service and then deciding not to use it, or not using it very often.

He said: "With these trends in place, we felt it was prudent to take a conservative outlook on Twitter's user growth over the next 18 months."

However, the company has revised its previous estimate of Twitter's popularity in 2009 from 12.1 million users up to 18 million, with the figure set to reach 26 million in 2010, according to its predictions.

This week, a report from Box UK indicated that the average user of the micro-blogging site is aged between 18 and 21.

15/09/2009