I still remember the early days of Twitter. Well, sorta’. I got on in 2007, after the SXSWi hype-storm that year introduced it the tech world. And it was a different place then: replies were invented by users, and you could see all of them; a 100 followers seemed like a lot!;  and no-one outside of the geek world knew what it was.

But times have changed. And now, the fine folks at Edison Research have just released a report showing how much. Their “Twitter Usage in America 2010” contains some some pretty fascinating facts about everyone’s favorite microblogging service.

Here are some of the highlights:

• While in 2008, only 5% of the population knew about Twitter, now 87% does, making it almost as well known as Facebook (though obviously much less popular).
• Despite all this growth, only about 7% of the population is on Twitter.
• Despite being 13% of the national population, African-Americans account for 24% of the Twitter population.
• Slightly more women then men use Twitter (53% vs 47%)
• Twitter users tend to be wealthier and more highly educated than the general population (though, given the reliance on technology, this is probably less surprising than it sounds)
• 79% of Twitter users would choose the internet over TV if they were forced to pick just one medium (and I would too!).

All in all, it’s pretty fascinating to see how this seemingly innocuous service has become so huge.

You can request a copy of the report from Edison Research or check out a slideshow at Business Insider.

[Source: Business Insider]