The NPD Group likes to know what's going. They have tracked Twitter awareness. They found that awareness of Twitter more than doubled in the first quarter of
2009 reaching a 52 percent awareness level among the U.S.
Internet-using population, which increased from 22 percent awareness in
the fourth quarter of 2008.
Among music buyers, awareness of Twitter
reached 67 percent in the first quarter. In addition 12 percent of
music buyers claimed to have used Twitter in the past three months,
versus 8 percent of Web users overall.
"NPD's latest music-acquisition study shows that there are segments
of consumers who are more actively integrating Twitter as a key tool
for communicating and networking," said Russ Crupnick, entertainment
industry analyst for NPD. "Based on their music-purchasing history,
active Twitter users are simply worth more to record labels and music
retailers than those who are not using Twitter."
According to NPD's consumer tracking,
33 percent of Twitter users reported buying a CD in the prior three
months, and 34 percent claimed to have purchased a digital download,
which compares positively to overall Web users (at 23 percent and 16
percent, respectively). When Twitter users purchased music, they also
spent more money than did their non-Twitter counterparts. In fact
people on Twitter purchased 77 percent more digital downloads, on
average, than those who were not using Twitter.
Twitter users are also much more likely than average Web users to be
engaged in online music activities -- one-third listened to music on a
social networking site, 41 percent listened to online radio (compared
to 22 percent among all Web users), and 39 percent watched a music
video online (versus 25 percent among all Web users). Twitter users
were also twice as likely than average Web users to visit MySpace Music
and Pandora.
"Twitter has the potential to help foster the discovery of new
music, and improve targeted marketing of music to groups of
highly-involved and technologically savvy consumers, but it has to be
done right," Crupnick said. "There must be a careful balance struck
between entertainment and direct conversation on one hand, and
marketing on the other. Used properly Twitter has the power to
entertain -- and to motivate music fans to purchase more new albums,
downloads, merchandise, and concert tickets."
Data note: NPD's "Music Acquisition Monitor" measures all forms
of music acquisition activity (both digital and physical) as well as
volume. It is based on nearly 4,000 survey completions by NPD's
panelists on a quarterly basis. Data is weighted and projected to be
representative of the U.S. Internet population age 13 and older.