Twitter is becoming a more prominent means of communicating about important topics to friends around the world. It's growth continues, and in the first half of 2011 the company hit a new benchmark - 200 million daily tweets.
The 200 Million Figure
The 200 million figure has been breached, and the average for the year continues to be impressively high. While there are plenty of facts and figures to blame, including a continuous growth for the service, the 182% increase in mobile use is certainly one of the key factors.
As Twitter happily reminds us in their post announcing the figure, "In January of 2009, users sent two million Tweets a day." That sets Twitter's growth at about 10,000 percent over the course of the last two-and-a-half years. The current number of Tweets translates into "the equivalent of a 10 million-page book," which, if it actually existed, would extend to "the height of about 1,470 feet."
Twitter's Rise in Volume and Stature
Twitter has seen immense growth in the volume in Tweets over the course of this year. According to Jeff Bullas, Twitter was at 140 million tweets in February. These figures jumped up significantly in March, however, largely thanks to the use of Twitter in connecting with loved ones in Japan. March 11th, the date of the 9.0 earthquake, saw 177 million tweets and multiple instances where more than 5,000 tweets were sent each second.
Tweeting is now an accepted means of communication about both trivial and serious topics. Highlighting the flow of information in the aftermath of the March 11th earthquakes, Twitter has created a pair of videos showing the flow of direct messages, tweets, and re-tweets to and from Japan.
Various geographic regions were also discussed in relation to current events, including Fukushima (the location of a Japanese power plant), Libya (where there's an ongoing civil war), and as mentioned - Japan. Whether discussing mission-critical or humorous subjects, Twitter has become an accepted way to communicate - a lot.
