Twitterers News hungry

Posted by Helena Humphrey on October 19, 2009 at 4:57 PM

Twitterers are a news hungry breed - that's according to the latest results of a study carried out by the online ad network, Chitika. According to the study, the majority of site's users look to the social networking tool to keep abreast of the latest news developments. The reason behind this, according to Chitika, is Twitter's "unique ability to bring information instantly to large numbers of people" - "From being the first to publish pictures of a Turkish Airlines' plane crash to the social network's breaking of US Airways Flight 1549's dramatic crash into the Hudson River earlier this year, Twitter's instantaneous and collaborative nature has made it out to be the bleeding edge of all news."

The network added: "Compare Twitter's results, though, with older, more established social network Facebook, and the value and perception of Twitter's speed become more obvious,". "While news sites do receive a good deal of Facebook's referrals, they lag behind tech and lifestyle sites - tech sites dominate Facebook's traffic with over 33% of the network's referrals going there."