Probe Research: Not a lot of ‘Toban Twitter action (but growing).

Smartypants social media listeners Probe Research contacted me with some data [PDF download] prepared for the Manitoba Chapter of the Canadian Marketing Association. Data about my favourite topic: how big is Twitter in our fair city?

Here’s what the sample of 1000 Manitobans had to say:

• 91% have heard of Twitter
• 8% of those are on Twitter
• That’s 7.3% of Manitoba’s population (90,520 people)
  
• Only 1 in 4 users, or 1.8% of Manitobans, follow brands on Twitter

7.3% of potentially-tweeting Manitobans is higher than the data I’ve been able to gather, though still half the rate of the new national average of 13.5%.

I asked Probe Research Associate Curtis Brown if they were able to determine if all the people who report having Twitter accounts actually use it, but he explained it’s difficult in a short survey to get data that’s kinda subjective.

“Asking someone if they use Twitter or Facebook can be ambiguous, depending on how they “use” it, whereas asking people if they have an account is more clear-cut,” Curtis says.

7.3% is great news, because it shows Twitter is being adopted in Winnipeg, albeit more slowly than the rest of the country. Our Ikea isn’t here yet either, but that doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen, you know?