African Americans Love to Tweet

Twitter is the leader of the pack among African American social networkers, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit research organization. The study shows that Twitter users are slightly more racially and ethnically diverse than the overall U.S. population. Among Internet users, 16% of African Americans use Twitter or similar status update services, compared with 9% of white users.

Multiracial Americans Fastest Growing Group

Americans who self identify as multiracial are on the rise. According to the latest U. S. Census estimates, multiracial Americans are the fastest growing demographic group, up 3.4% from 4.9 million to about 5.2 million over the last year. Since

2000, the first year Americans were given the option to check off more than one box for race on Census surveys, the number of multiracial people has grown 33% as of 2008. Multiracial Americans currently make up 5% of the more than 100 million minority population.

More Blacks See Themselves As ‘Haves’

There’s a surge in optimism among Americans

since Barack Obama was elected. Pew Research Center’s latest poll shows Americans are more upbeat in their perceptions of the country as being divided in a two-class nation of a privileged set of “haves” and a set of “have-nots.” The number of African Americans who see an economic divide has declined from 75% to 60%, while 43% of blacks consider themselves “haves” compared with 35% who think they are “Have-Nots.”

Tech Workforce Lacks Diversity

Minorities are a small fraction of high-technology workforces, especially at the senior level in Silicon Valley, California, shows a recent study from the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology.

This article originally appeared in teh August 2009 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.