Twitter的一炮走红实在是超出大家的想象，特别是2009年以来飞速发展。最新的数据显示该服务单单在美国就即将达到1800万用户。 我们大家都知道Twitter在美国非常受欢迎，但是在世界其他地方却也相当流行。 让我们来看看自从Twitter在2006年创建后到现在2009年，这三年中它在世界范围内的扩张。
下面的地图是根据谷歌搜索数据显示的，谷歌搜索数据是我们经常使用的一个搜索兴趣转化为实际受欢迎度的一个很重要参考，这次我们搜的是“Twitter”。
2006
第一年，Twitter只是在美国才流行，看下面的地图就可以很清楚地看出Twitter当时的区域受欢迎度。
更多关于2006 Twitter的谷歌搜素数据：点击这里
2007
2007年，Twitter开始拓展到美国以外的边界地区。值得一提的是，在日本，人们对它的兴趣激增，Twitter服务在那里大受欢迎。
更多关于2007 Twitter的谷歌搜素数据： 点击这里.
2008
2008年开始，情况变得更目前有点像了。对Twitter的兴趣仍在增长，有些用户还是非常有来头的大人物(举个例子，奥巴马在其竞选中就以使用Twitter 出名)。Twitter在日本继续受人们的关注，还有像英国、澳大利亚、加拿大也加入了这个阵列中。
更多关于2008 Twitter的谷歌搜素数据： 点击这里
2009
总所周知，2009年是Twitter真正像火箭一般迅速飞翔的日子。 它在美国大受关注，并且在其他地区也继续受到热烈的欢迎 (甚至于在 Oprah上都有展示)，在英国，Twitter经历了惊人的提升，该服务已经向名人展开双臂，帮助了Stephen Fry、John Cleese 成名。加拿大、巴西、爱尔兰、澳大利亚、南非和新西兰这些国家都属于对Twitter热情非常高的国家。
更多关于2009 Twitter的谷歌搜素数据： 点击这里.
今昔对比，Twitter 2006和Twitter 2009
我们见证了Twitter的成长，让我们来看另一组数据，看看当时Twitter的受欢迎度和今日的区别。数据是相同的，下面是以图表的形式显示：
毫无疑问，Twitter确实征服了整个世界。
一个有意思的地方是，这其中所有的重要国家，除了巴西之外都是英语国家。这或许不足为奇，因为要获得Twitter的最大价值和用户群，必须得说英语。 另一方面，可能Twitter上其他语言的飞起是迟早的事，只是时间的问题。
有没有敢大胆预测下2010年的Twitter将会如何呢？
附原文：
A year-by-year tour of how Twitter has been taking over the world
Twitter’s meteoric rise to fame has been hard to miss, especially after it really took off in 2009. The latest number being thrown around is that the service will soon have 18 million users in the United States alone.We all know that Twitter is extremely popular in the United States, but it’s pretty darn popular in the rest of the world as well (Pingdom is on Twitter, and we’re Swedes!) But it took Twitter a while to get there.
Let’s take a tour of the geographic expansion of Twitter from its launch in 2006 until today in 2009.
The maps below are based on Google search data. We have found over and over again that a high search interest translates well into actual popularity of an online service, in this case searches for “Twitter”.
2006
In its first year Twitter was pretty much a US-only phenomenon, made blatantly clear by this map showing the regional interest for Twitter back then.
More Google search insights for Twitter in 2006 available here.
2007
In 2007 the word about Twitter started to spread outside the US borders. Especially noteworthy is the strong surge of interest in Japan, where the service became very popular.
More Google search insights for Twitter in 2007 available here.
2008
In 2008 the situation was starting to look a bit more like it does today. The interest in Twitter continued to surge, triggered in part by high-profile Twitter users (Obama famously used Twitter during his presidential campaign, to name an example). Interest for Twitter continued to be strong in Japan and countries like the UK, Australia and Canada were also jumping on the bandwagon.
More Google search insights for Twitter in 2008 available here.
2009
As is widely known, 2009 is the year that Twitter really took off like a rocket. It has received huge amounts of attention in the US where it continues to show up basically everywhere (even showcased by Oprah), and Twitter experienced a phenomenal boost in the UK where the service has been embraced with open arms and helped by celebrities like Stephen Fry and John Cleese (we wrote about this back in March). Canada, Brazil, Ireland, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand are other countries where the interest for Twitter is very strong.
More Google search insights for Twitter in 2009 available here.
Then and now, Twitter in 2006 and in 2009
Now that we’ve gone through the years of Twitter’s existence, let’s look at another representation of the relative popularity of Twitter in its first year versus today. It’s the same data as above, but shown here in diagram form.
It’s pretty safe to say that Twitter IS indeed conquering the world.
An interesting thing here is that all of the top countries, with the notable exception of Brazil, are English-speaking countries. This should probably not come as a surprise since to get the most out of Twitter and its existing user base, English is a must.
On the other hand, it’s probably just a matter of time before other languages take off on Twitter.
We wish we knew what Twitter’s secret sauce was. 
Does anyone dare to make a prediction of what will happen to Twitter in 2010?
A note on the data: These numbers from Google are normalized, i.e. they show the regional interest relative to the number of internet users in each country (or searches made in each country, we’re not sure what method Google uses). In other words, they don’t necessarily correspond to where Twitter has the most users, but where it is garnering the most interest. That’s how smaller countries like New Zealand can rank relatively high on the list, because a large part of their population (regardless of population size) search for information about Twitter.