Twitter use grows by tweets and bounds

The Twitter community is growing.

A Pew Internet & American Life Project survey released last week shows that about 11 percent of online adults have used Twitter or a similar “micro-blogging” service, which allow users to post quick, brief messages to each other via a computer or mobile phone.

In May, only 6 percent said they were using Twitter and in November, that number jumped to 9 percent.

As you might expect, young adults are the largest percentage of Twitter users. The median age of a Twitter user is 31.

Here’s the breakdown by age group:

19 percent of online adults ages 18 to 24
20 percent of 25 to 34
10 percent of 35 to 44
5 percent of 45 to 54
4 percent of 55 to 64
2 percent of 65 and older

The numbers show that Twitter, while growing, has yet to enter the mainstream.

By comparison, a Pew study released in January found that 35 percent of online adults have a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook, MySpace or LinkedIn.