I don't have to tell you that everyone is talking Twitter. If you haven't heard about it from your friends, co-workers, or favorite social media "guru," then you've certainly heard about it via CNN, Oprah, The Today Show, USA Today, and countless other media outlets that are constantly talking about it lately. There are a lot of great things things about it. I've met some wonderful people and value it for online reputation monitoring and live search purposes, but there are downfalls that many overlook. Allow me to be the "fun sponge" and share 10 sobering Twitter statistics found after scouring nearly a dozen comScore, eMarketer, Nielsen, HubSpot, Pear Analytics, and Alexa reports :
94% of Twitter users have under 100 followers
90% of tweeting is done by 10% of Twitter users
60% of new Twitter users fail to return the following month
50% of Twitter accounts are inactive (haven't tweeted in the past week)
40% of tweets are "pointless babble"
35% of Twitter users have 10 or fewer followers
21% of Twitter accounts are empty placeholders
11% of Twitter users interact with brands on Twitter
9% of Twitter users don't follow anyone at all
3% of followers click on links tweeted
The next time someone tells you that you and/or your company need to be on Twitter because it grew 25% between April and July (the already much larger Facebook grew 30% during the same time period) and both Zappos and Comcast are on it (so, of course, you should be too?) keep these stats in mind. Don't get me wrong – Twitter certainly can have value. But as a marketer I think it's my job to be responsible (not reactionary) and help manage client expectations. Now excuse me while I tweet this post!
Chad Richards Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Good post. I often wonder how valuable it really is. Most success stories are of companies that were already successful, or of people who just talk about social media. Everything popular on Twitter seems to be about using Twitter. I think if you aren’t one of those two categories, the best value from Twitter is just starting new relationships or building on old relationships. Thanks!
Comment by Jason on August 31, 2009 at 9:22 am
I commend you on your refreshing, responsible approach to this post. Too many people love to talk about the latest and greatest statistic without stepping back to look at it within the context of all the other research and results that are out there. You’ve painted a realistic picture I’ll be sure to share with my friends and colleagues.
Comment by John Ritter on August 31, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Margaret
http://businesseshome.net
Comment by susan01 on September 11, 2009 at 2:00 am
Great post.very informative. thanks
Comment by grbanks on September 11, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Hmmm, so this is the fact! I have seen companies deploying good size of efforts in marketing through twitter, facebook, orkut etc. They spend considerable time on these social media sites to make their presence felt but it seems that it is too early to say that their efforts are worth it.
Comment by Puneesh Lamba on September 18, 2009 at 11:36 pm