Sysomos is quick to point out that many of these high volume, automated accounts provide useful data, like the top stories on social news site Digg, or the most recent popular bookmarks on Delicious. Accounts like @CombatSI, which provides realtime updates from the virtual world of Second Life, generate over 2,000 updates per day. Another highly active automated account, @dogbook, provides updates on what dogs are doing via the Dogbook Facebook app.
In other words: just because Tweeting isn't solely a human pursuit, that doesn't mean bots are all spammers.
Active Twitter Users: More Fascinating Stats
While the data about bots and "Twitter addicts" is perhaps the most accessible, it's well worth digging into the report to absorb some of its nuances. In the blog post about the findings, Sysomos quotes these key facts:
--Among the most active Twitter users with more than 50,000 followers, we find singer Tyrese (@tyrese4real), actress Alyssa Milano (@alyssa_milano), celebrity Tila Tequila (@officialtila), tv host Jonathan Ross (@wossy) and evangelist Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki).
--60.6% of the most active Twitter users live in the United States, while 6.9% are located in the U.K, 4.7% in Japan, and 4.3% in Canada.
--The split between genders among the most active Twitter users is fairly balanced with 54% male, 46% female.
--88% of the most active Twitter users have never missed a day without making at least one update, while another 2.1% have only been inactive for one day.
--48% have more than 100 followers, compared with 6.3% for overall Twitter users.
--33.7% of the most active Twitter users have joined Twitter this year, compared with 72.5% of overall Twitter users who have signed up this year
--The most popular keywords within bios of active users are Internet marketing, music lover, Web designer, video games, and husband/father.
The full "Inside Twitter" report is available as a PDF [warning: PDF link].