18 Percent of College Students Who Go Online Use Twitter

College students are far more likely to use Twitter than are other segments of the U.S. population: While 8 percent of American adults who go online use the short-burst messaging service, the proportion for full-time or part-time college students who go online is 18 percent.

The numbers come from an extensive survey of Twitter use released on Thursday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which conducted the survey of 2,257 people over 18 years old in November. The nunber of college users was not provided in the report, but Aaron Smith, a senior research specialist at the Pew project, crunched the figures at the request of The Chronicle.

Other groups with above-average Twitter use include “young adults, urbanites, and people of color,” he said.