Per a just released survey on Twitter and Status Updating from the Pew Internet & American Life Project:

Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service.

Of particular note for lawyers is that median age of those using Twitter and social networking sites.

• Median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year.
• Median age for MySpace is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008.
• Median age for LinkedIn is now 39, down from 40.
• Median age for Facebook is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008.

No question, per the Pew Foundation, that we're going to see nothing but growth in the public's use of Twitter and social networking sites.

[I]t is clear that a 'social segment' of internet users is flocking to both social network sites and status update services. This segment is likely to grow as ever more internet users adopt mobile devices as a primary means of going online.

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonprofit "fact tank" that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Their Internet & American Life Project produces reports exploring the impact of the internet on families, communities, work and home, daily life, education, health care, and civic and political life.

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The percentage of internet users who use search engines on a typical day has been steadily rising from about one-third of all users in 2002, to a new high of just under one-half (49%). With this increase, the number of those using a search engine on a typical day is pulling ever closer to the 60% of internet users who use email, arguably the internet's all-time killer app, on a typical day.

One reason for the increase in search use is the quality of information available on topic specific sites. People can find a site-specific search engine on "just about every content-rich website that is worth its salt."

With a growing mass of web content from blogs, news sites, image and video archives, personal websites, and more, internet users have an option to turn not only to the major search engines, but also to search engines on individual sites, as vehicles to reach the information they are looking for.

Can you say niche law blog with a clearly displayed search feature retrieving highly relevant searches in a hundredth of a second?

Perhaps of interest to law firms is the demographic makeup of those using Internet search.

• More likely to be socially upscale
• At least some college education
• Incomes over $50,000 per year
• More likely to be internet users with at least six years of online experience
• Younger internet users are more likely than older users to search

Also of interest is how search use compares to other Internet daily activities.

Note the increasing use of the net for news (39%) and social networking (13%). Both represent opportunities for savvy lawyer PR/marketing and networking through news syndication (blogs, Twitter) and social networking (LinkedIn, Martindale's Legal Connection, Legal OnRamp etc).

Click here for a copy of the study. (pdf)