There has been much debate over the value of twitter as a viable marketing tool. While no doubt the early adopters tend to be younger and tech focused, their is a real possibility that twitter could become popular enough where it could be a real way to reach consumers. The real time multi-channel nature of the platform provides real potential. If not twitter, then the service/app that takes it’s place.

The key to all of this speculation is the adoption, and by who. So when someone posts some research and information about the twitter usage numbers it raises a few eyebrows.

The important numbers? 1 million users, and 200,000 active users per week (posting an average of 15 tweets a day).

While it certainly hasn’t hit the participation level of blogging, facebook, or linkedin it shows very real potential. When services such as twitter start to reach a critical mass they gain steam at a very rapid pace. Is twitter a service that anyone with a cell phone would use? It is a possibility, as twitter allows a very real and easy way to stay connected with people you care about regardless of time.

Remember there was a time when the only people who used e-mail were the techie early adapters.

Universal McCann has released a new report on the impact of social media (such as blogs, social networks, online video) on the media landscape. It surveyed 17,000 Internet users worldwide in March 2008. The report found that social media, in particular blogs, are “becoming a more important part of global media consumption for internet users than some traditional media channels.” The report also found that social media is a global phenomenon (29 countries were surveyed), although there are cultural differences in how people use it.

The report states that “video clips, blogs, podcasts, social networks and RSS are all essential components of the online media diet.” Here are some of the key findings:

Read more at ReadWriteWeb

If you haven’t seen it already take a look at Piwik, an open source analytics package that is designed to compete with the ever popular Google Analytics. Open source has always had a strong blogger following, and Piwik has seen a huge increase of traffic due to bloggers posting on the release of their software.

While it is too soon to say that Piwik will replace Google Analytics (the current top free tool available), it does boast a lot of impressive features. Some of the more interesting are:

• Ability to build your own plugins (think of the possibilities!)
• Fully customizable interface
• Data is fully stored on your own server

Keep your eyes posted for more information. The ability to develop plugins, integration, and other API’s will allow some strong possibilities for monitoring and drawing conclusions from data that has been aggregated.