Craig Freeman, mass communication professor, first signed up for a Twitter account to follow a student who was tweeting through an internship experience. Before he knew it, he was immersed in the world of Twitter, spouting off his own 140-character posts and following people and organizations of interest to him.Freeman isn’t the only one. Worldwide traffic to Twitter increased by more than 700 percent from a year ago, according to comScore Media Metrix, a digital audience measuring service. But Freeman is among an important group of Tweeters — the adult demographic — driving the Web site’s popularity. New data from comScore showed surprising results. Though traditionally the 18 to 24-year-old age group is most active on social networking sites, Twitter is proving most popular with another age group — 45-to 54-year-olds.Users in this age bracket are 48 percent more likely to visit Twitter than 18-to 24-year-olds, according to comScore. Even users in the 65 and older group are more likely to visit than the younger users.Freeman said Twitter may be growing with older users because it provides appealing features for business people.”As a business person, you want to stay on top of people’s minds,” he said. “Twitter helps you stay relevant on an hourly basis if you choose. And it’s more effective than spam mail because people choose to follow you.”The University is beginning to form its presence on Twitter. Several University organizations have tweeted onto the bandwagon, including the LSU AgCenter, LSU Dining and the LSU System among others.Trace Turvis, new media coordinator for the Office of Communications and University Relations, said it is important for the University to be a part of such a popular phenomenon. Twitter is good because it reflects the way people surf the Internet, he said. “It plays to the way folks digest content,” he said. “They scan text first, and may or may not read further. You give them 140 characters and add a hyperlink if they want to visit a Web page.”Tim Rodrigue, communications manager for the E.J. Ourso College of Business, said the immediacy of Twitter is what makes it valuable.”We produce a newsletter weekly and monthly … but [Twitter] is a more direct, day-to-day approach,” Rodrigue said.Freeman agreed Twitter has a unique approach to sharing information e-mail doesn’t match.”Friends may spam you with things you don’t care about,” Freeman said. “Twitter is a way to get that without cluttering your inbox. If you miss a day, you don’t have to clear it all out. It’s just somewhere at the bottom of the page.” Rodrigue said the business college enhances its Twitter experience with HootSuite, a Twitter management program which tracks statistics like who is visiting an account and clinking on links.”We can see if visitors are students, recruiters for the college or a company in Baton Rouge,” Rodrigue said. Freeman said Twitter is “more mature” and allows for more privacy than similar sites like Facebook.”I stay away from Facebook,” Freeman said. “I don’t want to see my student’s bellybutton ring or figure out if they have a boyfriend. But tweeting limits you, so it takes out that extra stuff.”Freeman said he enjoys reading about important topics on Twitter, like Baton Rouge politics, free from things that don’t interest him.”It’s less, ‘my bellybutton looks weird,’ and more, ‘these are the issues I care about,'” Freeman said.Some students say Twitter is too similar to Facebook, and there is no need to use both.”[Twitter] is pretty pointless,” said Chris Neely, economics junior. “It’s just a Facebook status without a profile.” Ciera Helton, kinesiology junior, said she prefers the extra content that comes with Facebook and can’t be found on Twitter.”Facebook has more of a community feel,” she said.—- Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected]