Study: African American Students More Into Twitter Than Whites

A recent study says Twitter is more popular for African American college students than whites due to the former’s interest in celebrity and entertainment news.

The study, from Northwestern University, focused on first-year college students attending the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). It found those who used Twitter were more likely to be interested in celebrity and entertainment news than not. It also said a higher percentage of black students were using Twitter in 2010 compared to white students, 37 percent to 21 percent.

The study was published online by New Media And Society in May 2011. Respondents were asked about their awareness and use of Twitter as well as their gender, race, Internet skill level, interest in topics such as international news, politics, entertainment and celebrity news.

“Students with higher Internet skills were more likely to start using Twitter and so were African Americans, who we found report more interest in celebrity and entertainment news than their peers of other races,” Eszter Hargittai, associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern and lead author of the study, said in a statement.  (Read more)