A recent analysis by advertising agency "The Works" revealed that Sydney's Bass Hill and Toongabbie suburbs are in the city's five top spots for Twitter users, along with St. Leonards, Ropes Crossing and the CBD.

While St. Leonards and the CBD were predictable results, given the number of advertising agencies in St. Leonards that make use of the social media service, researchers on the project were surprised by other areas that came in high on the usage list.

Douglas Nicol, a partner with the ad agency, divided Twitter users into two groups: "There is the CBD office worker and then there is the young suburban family and they are both very active."

The agency analysed a week's worth of tweets, over 491,000, to come up with their geographic data of high usage areas.

The study also found that Monday mornings were the busiest Twitter times for Sydney residents. In comparison to other cities such as London and New York, Sydney rates as a hub of social networking, using social networking services for an average of seven hour per month compared to six for the US and the UK.

Mr. Nicol chalks this up to Australians' longer working hours: "I think that's because Australians, compared with London or New York, are at work for longer periods so they feel like they have a right to tweet at work."