It looks like Twitter still has a way to go before it hits the mainstream. A new study from eMarketer shows that Twitter awareness in the general US population is at 92%, but that only about 8% of those examined actually use the service.

In 2008, a paltry 5% of US consumers had ever heard of Twitter, and an even more paltry 1% used it. And while awareness of Twitter has grown exponentially since then, to the 92% that it currently enjoys, its use has seen more of a slow incline:

Compare Twitter’s awareness and usage with Facebook’s. While Facebook is also more known than used, it is estimated that it is used by an estimated 42.3% of online consumers. This completely dwarfs Twitter’s 8%, and illustrates a much tighter gap between awareness and usage.

Twitter is still a niche service that appeals to influencers, media professionals, celebrities and marketers, but it hasn’t yet broken through to the everyday consumer looking to share information with a network of like-minded individuals.

Twitter use just isn’t keeping up with its awareness, and it’s clear the company knows this. They’ve redesigned their home page, updated their mobile app, and they’re experimenting with different email notifications in order to capture more of the mainstream market. They have the exposure, they just need to be able to translate this into users.