Twitter approaching 500 million users milestone

PanARMENIAN.Net - Twitter is fast approaching the milestone of 500 million users, new figures suggest, according to Digital Spy.

Statistics from GlobalWebIndex (GWI) appear to confirm that the microblogging site passed 485 million members late last year, up from 402 million six months previous.

The social media research group estimates that Twitter account holders now make up around one-third of the global internet population.

The number of active Twitter users is now said to have surpassed 288 million, marking a 40% increase over the past six months and outstripping Facebook reported growth during the same period.

Facebook is said to have grown by 33% to 693 million active users in the period in question and reported a drop in profits during its recent Q4 earnings call.

"An incredible 21% of the global internet population now use Twitter actively on a monthly basis. That marks a whopping growth rate in active users of 714% since July 2009," read a statement from GWI.

GWI recently produced statistics that appear to suggest Google+ has overtaken both Twitter and YouTube in terms of active users, claiming 25% of the global web population.