A new study reveals those who tweet are not necessarily those who buy. 

Only 8% of Americans internet users consider Twitter a worthwhile resource, and most of those users are young adults, minorities and prospects who live in highly-populated metro areas.

This according to a recent Pew Institute study, which also found:

• only 16% of internet subscribers who make more than $50K a year  use Twitter on a regular basis
• there are 3% more women than men using Twitter on a regular basis
• the 18-29 demographic accounts for nearly 15% of all Twitter users
• college grads account for less than 10% of U.S. Twitter users, while another 9% of users have had “some college” experience
• Latinos and African-Americans were more than twice as likely as white internet users to visit Twitter regularly, and
• urban internet users were twice as likely to visit Twitter than those who live in rural sections of the country.

Companies may want to consider these numbers carefully before determining how much time and effort to devote to cost-consuming Twitter campaigns.

In some cases, it may just be a matter of focusing more attention on Facebook, or other social networking sites that attract a high percentage of top prospects.

(To read Pew’s complete report, “8% of online Americans use Twitter,” click here)