Twitter Ranking: Which States Twitter the Most?
Twitter has become a hot topic in
the online world and many companies are using Twitter to improve their
customer service. Since I’ll be writing more about Twitter and it’s
role in providing better customer service, I thought it would be fun to
see who’s tweeting where, to give us some perspective.
First, how many people are using Twitter?
In April, Mashable.com reported
an estimated 3.8% of Internet users are registered on Twitter which
equals about 6 million people. The source they report further predicts
12.1 million people in the US will be registered users of Twitter by
the end of 2009.
Second, where are these people?
Twellow.com, a major Twitter directory tracks “active”
Twitter users. As of today this totals 3.5 million people. They also
show where these Twitter users are located, using a cool map they call
“Twellowhood”. (It’s only available for the USA right now.) I
cross-referenced their map data with current population estimates of
all 50 states. This data came from The 2009 Statistical Abstract, courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau to produce this list:
US States Ranked by Number of Active Twitter Users*
1. California
2. Texas
3. Florida
4. Illinois
5. Georgia
6. New York
7. Washington
8. Pennsylvania
9. Massachusetts
10. Ohio
11. Michigan
12. North Carolina
13. Arizona
14. Colorado
15. Tennessee
16. Virginia
17. Oregon
18. Indiana
19. Minnesota
20. Maryland
21. Wisconsin
22. Nevada
23. Missouri
24. South Carolina
25. New Jersey
26. Oklahoma
27. Alabama
28. Louisiana
29. Kentucky
30. Iowa
31. Utah
32. Kansas
33. Connecticut
34. Arkansas
35. Nebraska
36. Idaho
37. New Mexico
38. Hawaii
39. Mississippi
40. New Hampshire
41. Maine
42. Rhode Island
43. West Virginia
44. Montana
45. Alaska
46. Vermont
47. Delaware
48. North Dakota
49. South Dakota
50. Wyoming
Not a lot of surprises here. The top 10 is dominated by the biggest
states with the exceptions of Massachusetts and Washington (the state,
not the District of Columbia). Massachusetts and Washington rank 13 and
15, respectively in population so being in the top 10 here might cause
us to wonder why. Also, Georgia ranks higher in Twitter users than
Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, all of which have larger populations
than Georgia.
This suggests states like Washington, Massachusetts and Georgia (to
a lesser extent) are more social media savvy than the others. Looking
at the ranking this way made me wonder if other states are more social
media friendly than this ranking suggests. Because this list tilts
toward the larger population states, it might hide this. A few minutes
and several Excel formulas later, I found myself staring at this list:
US States Ranked by Percentage of People in State Who are Active Twitter Users*
1. Washington
2. Massachusetts
3. Oregon
4. Nevada
5. Colorado
6. Illinois
7. Georgia
8. California
9. Arizona
10. Tennessee
11. Texas
12. Florida
13. Minnesota
14. Idaho
15. Hawaii
16. Ohio
17. Oklahoma
18. Pennsylvania
19. North Carolina
20. Vermont
21. Utah
22. Alaska
23. Iowa
24. Michigan
25. Virginia
26. Nebraska
27. Maryland
28. Indiana
29. South Carolina
30. Wisconsin
31. New Hampshire
32. Rhode Island
33. Maine
34. Kansas
35. Louisiana
36. Missouri
37. Alabama
38. North Dakota
39. Kentucky
40. New Mexico
41. Montana
42. New York
43. Delaware
44. Connecticut
45. Arkansas
46. South Dakota
47. West Virginia
48. New Jersey
49. Wyoming
50. Mississippi
This changes things. Now of the top ten has only five of its
original members. By removing population as a factor, this list (I
believe) more fairly shows Twitter’s penetration in the 50 states.
(If you’re interested in further discussion on ranking states by their technology prowess, see The 2008 State New Economy Index and this article: Social Networking Statistics.)
What does this mean? Why is it important?
Maybe it means nothing. Maybe its only importance is to satisfy our
desire to rank and compete. Now you can impress people with these new
cocktail party trivia. And you can slam your friends in states that are
less Twitter savvy than yours.
But I think this holds more value than just providing fun facts. One
thing I believe it tells us is that if you do business in a top 10
state (in the second list) you are more likely to have customers using
Twitter. This presents a stronger argument for making Twitter (and
other social media) part of your customer service infrastructure. Of
course you need to balance this with your type of business and customer
demographics.
How about you. What do you think?
Does this ranking align with your observations or experience? And
does it suggest any trends or conclusions to you? If so, please share
your thoughts. I’d like to know.
*Based on data from Twellow.com and The 2009 Statistical Abstract
