Twitter Australia : Does Location Really Matter? (Sydney Rules!)
Following on from the list of respondents in the Twitter Australia survey, I have sorted out a list of people’s locations. Some interesting results have come out from watching the survey respondents develop, there are things to learn about how Twitter works and how to get your message to far corners of Twitter.
When the survey started I was interested in where people said they lived. A contingent of Brisbane Tweeters were quite active, Sydney was unsurprisingly coming first but Melbourne Tweeters were lagging behind my expectations. So I announced this to be the case and Melbourne suddenly sprang to action quickly catching and overtaking Brisbane. It made me wonder - if with Twitter there are no geographic borders yet people still respond to a call of ‘Brisbane is beating Melbourne’ would (say you mapped Twitter relationships geographically) you see a large number of networks/hubs centred around geographic location? I expect you would.
Adelaide and Perth were also up there as you would hope, though I was expecting was a few more people from Perth to have responded as the Edge of the Web conference was on during that period. Twitter seemed quite active with #eotw so I thought people watching this tag would pick up on it with this announcement but alas, they could muster but 29 respondents in total.
What disappoint me most was Canberra. I expected a few more than 5 respondents for some reason (@malcomturnbull I wonder why you didn’t not respond? ;) ). @NathanaelB is a Canberran Tweeter who didn’t respond to the survey who I was particularly hoping would (though I didn’t ask him directly, wanting to test out the strength of the Retweets). Why? Because he is well connected and seems influential in the Twitter Australia scene and if I am right about Twitter networks still being geographically based - then his retweet could have seen more Canberran respondents.
Take a quick look over the people following you, and people you follow. Do they lean toward a geographic region(s)? Do you know who the network hubs are in your area or other areas? Comment below, I’d love to hear what you have to say.
The following are the location results as of today:
| City/Town | # Respondents |
| Sydney | 64 |
| Melbourne | 50 |
| Brisbane | 43 |
| Perth | 29 |
| Adelaide | 23 |
| Gold Coast | 5 |
| Canberra | 5 |
| Geelong | 3 |
| Wollongong | 3 |
| Newcastle | 3 |
| Hervey Bay | 2 |
| Blue Mountains | 2 |
| Toowoomba | 2 |
| Bateau Bay | 1 |
| Hobart | 1 |
| Tasmania | 1 |
| Wagga Wagga | 1 |
| Cairns | 1 |
| Bathurst | 1 |
| Latrobe Valley | 1 |
| Townsville | 1 |
| Carnarvon | 1 |
| New York | 1 |
| Mullimbimby | 1 |
15 Comments
Scott Y. on November 14th, 2008
Looks like New York is just a little town in Australia? Must be quiet at Wall Street today :)
NathanaelB on November 14th, 2008
Eek sorry Andrew that I managed to miss or ignore all the tweets about the survey! Not sure I’m that influential LOL but I’ll get some more Canberra people on-board :-)
Canberra Twitter folk - get your name on the list! :: Nathanael Boehm on the Internet, web UX design, social networking ... on November 14th, 2008
[...] Beeston recently ran a survey of active Twitterers in Australia and reported the results by city. Canberra turned out a disappointing five, coming in way below Sydney and [...]
Warlach on November 14th, 2008
Not that influential, Nathanael? Whenever I think of Canberra I imagine you, Mad Max style, leading a band of tech savvy people from CTUB lunch to CTUB lunch ;)
Kelly on November 14th, 2008
Location to me doesn’t matter - I surprisingly have a lot of connections in strange states in the US…I only know a few of the folk in Sydney (where I am) and the rest I just began following because they seemed like they had good things to say - not because they are here. Would say the network “hubs” in my connections are @servantofchaos (here in Sydney) and a guy in Conneticut - @benkunz - somehow all links appear to lead back to one of the two of them
kristarella on November 14th, 2008
Of course location is not a big deal on Twitter, most of the people I follow are in America. However, it can be very cool to follow locals, you get tips and invites and free stuff for local events. It rawks.
Neil Creek on November 14th, 2008
I have to admit, I am more likely to follow an Aussie twitterer, but that’s mostly because they’re more active in the times of the day when I am. Otherwise, all twitterers are equal!
fumpT on November 14th, 2008
One more added for Canberra!
wheelyweb on November 14th, 2008
I find the question of geography in Twitter very interesting, as it is both neutral and location aware.
I definitely keep in touch with my European and North American people through it, for real time discussions (even when real-time may mean I’m having a nightcap while they are getting ready to go to work!) or to keep in touch with what they are doing.
But i find it invaluable in knowing more and being a part of my immediate surroundings.
So geography is relevant, even when it isn’t.
Babysitterdirectory on November 16th, 2008
Just curious if the 50 mentioned in Melbourne (the city thats lagging behind!) includes http://twitter.com/babysitterdirec? Suspect not but naer mind…now you know. Still not quite sure of the value of it….be interesting to see how it pans out. Though finding a lot of technical problems with the site since Ive joined like error pages showing up etc. Anyway will wait and see :)
Babysitterdirectory on November 16th, 2008
How annoying…just posted a comment on your site and the thing just disappeared! Anyhow dont think my twitter page - http://twitter.com/babysitterdirec is included on your Melbourne location list. Still not sure of value of twitter….only time will tell. At the moment finding none of my contacts or friends have heard about it not to mention are using it. :)
Ruth Ellison on November 28th, 2008
A bit slow (I’ve got an excuse - I was overseas in the US with no internet access!) but here’s another one for Canberra!!
Sandnsurf on December 8th, 2008
G’day
Slow on the uptake, may be able to help with a couple.
@sandnsurf (Perth)
@dreamingspires (Sydney)
@drnoele (Perth)
@precordialthump (Perth)
@jasonarm (Perth)
@kirstylawson (Perth)
Andrew on December 9th, 2008
Hey Mike - thanks for the update there, would love their industries and I should be able to put them on the list no worries.
I should have updated the rest now!
Andrew on November 14th, 2008
Notice how even New York gets a look in!