Pew have updated their annual look at who is using Twitter – you may recall that in their 2011 report it was revealed that some 13 percent of online adults were using the micro-blogging platform (up from 8 percent in 2010), and that the typical user skewed towards an 18-29 year-old non-white male.

Fast-forward another year, and what has changed?

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Back in December of last year we reported on data from the Pew Research Center that provided a detailed breakdown of the impact that Twitter is making with the online adult population in the United States.

Pew’s research in December suggested that 8% of online adults were using Twitter, female users were slightly more typical than male, and minority internet users were significantly more prevalent on the network.

Six months later, what’s changed?

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Some interesting analysis from Brian Solis (courtesy of data provided by Pingdom) that suggests that the average Twitter user is 39.1 years of age, most likely female, and that all of social media is dominated by persons in the 35-44 demographic.

Twitter isn’t for kids, at least not at the moment. Some 65% of all Twitter users are over the age of 35. This is good news for brands and marketers – there’s lots of disposable income there. We’ve suspected, and even known about this age-bias for some time, but it’s nice to be reminded of what increasingly appears to be a fact.

Of course, statistics can be misleading, and you certainly have to be very careful with averages. If you think about it, the ‘average person’ has one testicle and one breast. Still, Brian’s study is excellent and well worth a moment of your time.

PS. Brian’s new book, Engage, is out now, and I’ll hopefully be reviewing it very soon.