Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Has Twitter lost its hype with only a minority of big users?
According to a Harvard study of 300,000 users, reported by the BBC (among others) today, just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content.
I can believe it - we all know that some people tweet not only several times a day but several times an hour. It's in the nature of statistics that such prolific people will skew the data. Of course, those people are not necessarily those who post the most useful information.
We train people how to use Twitter and we're not under any illusions - for some people it will turn out to be useful, it will work for them and suit their way of working. For others it's an interesting experiment that doesn't persist, but they have to try it to find out - and that's probably why Nielsen, who also surveyed people on Twitter, found that more than 60% of (in thier case US) Twitter users fail to return the following month. The Harvard team found that more than half of all people using Twitter update their page less than once every 74 days.The most ridiculous bit of statistics bashing was to say that "most people only ever "tweet" once during their lifetime" - erm - that's clearly an average and I suspect there are very few who tweet once and never again!
The researchers at Harvard also stated that "Twitter resembles more of a one-way, one-to-many publishing service more than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network," but that's something I very much disagree with. I've had several mutliway conversations, and many more people who read the conversations but don't necessarily get involved. It is ostensible a one to one or one- to-many commmunication channel, but those of us who use it often have turned it into something more.
Of course, whether that usage can continue is another matter. There are many reasons why Twitter may not last as a really useful tool, not least the recent unsavoury rash of porn-touting followers. Once again a reason NEVER to auto-follow the people who follow you!Labels: research, social networking, twitter
posted by Helen Whitehead 9:51 AM
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