All Atwitter Over Social Platform's Meteoric Growth

Image via CrunchBase

Buoyed in the U.S. by increased use by the over-55 set and a stronger mobile Internet presence, social media platform Twitter is now being used monthly by 21 percent of the world's Internet population, according to GlobalWebIndex ("GWI") cited in an online Forbes article.

Fourth Quarter 2012 figures revealed a staggering 40 percent increase among active Twitter users, which translates to 288 million tweeters. The GWI measures usage in 31 markets that comprise roughly 90 percent of the global Internet population between ages 16 and 65, the Forbes piece noted. Dating back to July 2009, active tweeters have increased by 714 percent.

Active usage of Twitter grew 94 percent in the U.S., second only to Hong Kong. The over-55 demographic is the fastest-growing group among tweeters, the GWI survey noted, and Americans last year increased their mobile Internet usage of Twitter to 43 percent from 37 percent the previous year.

Bet there are some folks in the respective boardrooms of Google and Facebook who wish their companies had acquired the San Francisco-based microblogger before it learned how to spin gold in 140-character segments.