Brazil becomes second most-represented country on Twitter

PanARMENIAN.Net - Brazil has leapfrogged Japan to become the second most-represented country on Twitter, PC Magazine reported, citing a study from social media research company Semiocast.

The U.S. is still the top country on Twitter in terms of number of users with 107.7 million accounts. But Brazil now comes in at number two with 33.3 million, followed by Japan with 29.9 million.

To determine its results Semiocast analyzed 383 million Twitter accounts created prior to 2012, looking at criteria like the location listed on the profile, time zone, language used to tweet, and GPS location when available.

Although Brazil has more Twitter users, Japan's Twitterati is still more active, Semiocast said.

Nearly a third (30 percent) of Japanese accounts tweeted between September and November of last year, while a quarter of Brazilians posted a 140-charater message during the same period.

Additionally, Japanese is the second most-used language on the platform behind English. In fact, Japanese was the first non-English tongue added to Twitter in April 2008.

Japan is followed by the UK and Indonesia, which have 23.8 million and 19.5 million accounts, respectively.

While the Netherlands is number 17 when it comes to its number of Twitter users, Semiocast said it's the most active country on the site. A third of accounts there posted at least one tweet from September to November 2011. By comparison, Semiocast puts the global average rate at 27 percent.

Japan is the number-two country for activity, with Spain, the U.S., and Indonesia rounding out the top five.

Twitter is certainly very active in the U.S., its home base, which accounts for 28.1 percent of its users, Semiocast said. In December 2011 alone, 5.6 million new American accounts were created. However, the service is being widely adopted worldwide.