On April 30th Twitter announced that it had reached over 200 million active users throughout the world and that they have opened up advertising to all its US users. Previously advertising was only available by invitation and brought with it a required minimum spend per quarter.

Twitter has become a media darling in the US with Super Bowl 47 spawning 24.1 million tweets and half of all national televised Super Bowl adverts mentioned Twitter, whilst only 8 percent mentioned Facebook. Twitter is now a massive advertising tool projecting $1 Billion dollars in advertising revenue in 2014.Twitter Hasn't Reached Popularity In AustraliaTwitter hasn't yet reached the mainstream popularity in Australia that it has throughout the rest of the world. Of the 200 million active users throughout the world only 2.1 million of those are from Australia.Speaking to people close to me about what they thought Twitter was, I was greeted with answers like: “Isn’t that that Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga thing?” (Justin Beiber has 39 million followers and Lady Gaga has 37 million followers). My mum, a big fan of The Voice, thought it was a messaging service where people can tell Ricky Martin how hot he was. All my wife had to add to the conversation was that she knew that Kim Kardashian (17 million followers) loved posting selfies on Twitter.Now technically none of those answers are wrong and you’re probably wondering why I’m harping on about this considering Twitter isn't all that popular in Australia and advertising on Twitter is currently only available to US users. Well here it is.A Massive Growth In Australian Twitter Users Is Expected In 2013Twitter is expected to see huge growth in Australian users in the next year, especially with the election coming up in September. Twitter has sent Adam Sharp, their Head of Government, News and Social Innovation, to Australia in the lead up to the election to help government departments, parties and agencies encourage Twitter use and sign up. He is the latest Twitter executive to arrive in Australia as they prepare to establish an Australian office.Global trends have seen huge Twitter growth after elections in France, USA, Korea and Japan with the same growth expected in Australia. Also Twitter wouldn’t be setting up an office in little 'ole Oz' if they didn’t expect a return.Here is where it all comes full circle and my harping makes sense. Twitter isn’t dumb, if they are projecting $1 Billion dollars in advertising revenue, they are not going to minimise that by closing off the rest of the world. With Twitter also investing in Australia and actively encouraging Twitter use and signup it won’t be long before Twitter is a mainstay social media medium and thus an opportunity for businesses.Australian businesses need to start thinking about how Twitter will fit into their overall Social Media Strategy and also remember that social media is key to successful SEO - so if you want to know a little more then get in touch with the team at Bang Digital today.