If be "we" you mean a few highly invested tech people.

Only to the same extent that CB was the exclusive preserve of truckers.

Look up "eternal September" if you want to understand the demographic of Usenet...

I know about the Eternal September, but I believe that the AOL users that "swarmed" the network were more technically apt than the generic Twitter user and also were way fewer.

The skill (and motivation) gap between using something like IRC and Twitter is massive.

When CNN puts up a lower third scroll of Twitter commentary, do you think all those people are tech enthusiasts and media wonks?

You might not know people personally, but certainly you're aware of Twitter's role in the Arab Spring. And you've heard of Black Twitter, right?

For some meaning of "limited subsection of the general population".

I had 12000 followers for a twitter account about a specific football club - a specific subsection but not a technical or media one.

I used to randomly look at my followers and while many were "highly invested tech and media people" - the majority were just people who wanted to stay up to date (in particular I used to live-tweet during games which lots of people really enjoyed).

That was a few years ago though - personally I rarely use Twitter any more.

Most of the people I follow aren't "highly invested tech (and media) people", just normal people who happen to use Twitter to connect with others.