That is the finding of a survey conducted by internet consultant Rapleaf into the growth rates of one company's customer list.

 

More than 40,000 active users - defined as those who follow at least five others, have at least five followers or who have updated profiles at least five times - were analysed.

 

The research was conducted between March and the middle of June this year, when Twitter experienced 60 per cent growth.

 

And it showed that a popularity gap widened over that time, as those in the top 0.1 per cent increased their average following by 275 per cent.

 

Users in the top one per cent saw a 146 per cent rise, while the top ten per cent experienced growth of 126 per cent.

 

Furthermore, those who represent the top 0.1 per cent typically had five times more followers than those in the top one per cent and 40 times more than the most popular tenth.

 

The Kamaron Research Institute recently revealed that over 80 per cent of Twitter members cite business as one of the main reasons they use the site.