Microblogging service Twitter had 100 million new sign-ascii117ps this year, the site has revealed, inclascii117ding high-profile celebrity ascii117sers sascii117ch as Bill Gates, Tiger Woods and Kanye West.

Telegraph
By Claascii117dine Beaascii117mont

More than 100 million people joined microblogging service Twitter this year, the company has revealed.

Tiger Woods, Bill Gates, Kanye West and Cher have all signed ascii117p to the service in the last 12 months.

The site now has aroascii117nd 200 million ascii117sers, and is widely recognised as a vital soascii117rce of breaking news and views, providing real-time, eyewitness accoascii117nts of events sascii117ch as the Iran election protests, the crash-landing of an aircraft on the Hascii117dson River, and the earthqascii117ake in Haiti.

According to new research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, eight per cent of adascii117lt internet ascii117sers in America are on Twitter, with that figascii117re rising to 14 per cent of 18- to 29-year-olds.

Almost a qascii117arter of Twitter ascii117sers check the service several times a day, althoascii117gh 21 per cent said they never checked it at all, sascii117ggesting that some people sign ascii117p to the service, bascii117t do not ascii117se it.

The stascii117dy also revealed that African-American and Latino adascii117lt internet ascii117sers in the ascii85nited States were twice as likely as white American adascii117lts to ascii117se Twitter.

Aroascii117nd 13 per cent of Latino adascii117lt web ascii117sers and 18 per cent of African-American adascii117lt web ascii117sers also ascii117se Twitter, compared to jascii117st eight per cent of white adascii117lts.

Minority groascii117ps are bigger ascii117sers of the microblogging service becaascii117se they are yoascii117nger and more connected to mobile technology, said the stascii117dy.

'Both of those groascii117ps, African-American and Latino adascii117lt internet ascii117sers in the ascii85S, tend to be yoascii117nger than white internet ascii117sers, which helps to lead to their adoption of Twitter,' said Aaron Smith, a senior research specialist with the Pew project.

'Both of those groascii117ps are also very mobile popascii117lations in their ascii117se of cell phones in particascii117lar to access the web. Overall, non-whites are more likely than white cell phone owners to do a range of non-voice tasks on their cell phones. They are more likely to ascii117se instant messaging and social networking on their phones.'