How is Twitter Doing? What is it For!

How has Twitter Evolved Over the Years?

Twitter is still a hot thing, just not the hottest thing.
Twitter still has major potential and worth a whole lot of money, but it got a lot of work to do and must do it quickly to capitalize on it’s current fame.

A new study from Barracuda Labs studying 19 million Twitter accounts show that only 21% of Twitter users are active users. Active was defined as having at least 10 followers, following at least 10 people and have at least tweeted 10 times.

Let’s just get some statistics out of the way here!

  • 26% of Twitter users had 10 followers or more
  • 40% of Twitter users were following 10 people or more
  • 51% of Twitter users were following less than 5 people
  • 34% of Twitter users have not tweeted at ALL
  • 73% of Twitter users tweeted less than 10 times
  • This means that almost all of tweets come from 27% of the users.

What is the Point of Twitter?

For the majority of internet users, if they were asked what the purpose of Twitter was, they would draw a blank. No worries. You are not alone.

Twitter still hasn’t found a unique and clear identity, however, what we do know is this:

1) Social Media is Growing: Social Media continues to grow at a rapid rate. Also Facebook is carefully and strategically integrating itself throughout the web through Facebook Connect and those seemingly everywhere – “like” buttons. Trust me, it is more significant than you think. Something perhaps worth sharing in a different post.

Social Networking Growth

Firmly in the middle of this is twitter, the leader of micro-blogs. This is why they are valued so highly because no matter where the web heads, they are on a premiere position to capitalize on their huge user base.

2) Twitter is being used in several unique ways that are becoming more firm and established.

Here are a few.

  • Breaking News
  • Customer Service – saves $
  • Thought Leadership / Personal Branding
  • Humanize Corporations / Customer Learning
  • Viral Marketing

Twitter Awareness Statistics

Edison Research and ARbitron Internet recently surveyed 1,753 Americans revealing that awareness of twitter has grown tremendously in the last few years.

2008: 5% were aware of Twitter
2009: 26% were aware of Twitter
2010: 87% were aware of Twitter

Awareness of Twitter Statistics

Twitter vs Facebook Usage Statistics

Though Twitter is now as well known as Facebook, it continues to lag behind in actual usage.

Twitter Facebook Usage Comparison

More Twitter Usage Statistics

Twitter Usage Statistics

Twitter Demographics Statistics

I am not using Twitter. So who is using Twitter anyway?
Is it just a bunch of kids tweeting away?

People might be surprised to know that twitter has an older demographic than one may initially think. Twitter is actually not adopted amongst the teenagers as much as people initially would have guessed. In fact 71% of Twitter users are 25 and older. Much of Twitter is also used by business professionals, marketers, corporations and quickly becoming a great medium for businesses to engage their customers.

Twitter Demographic Statistics
Twitter Ethnicity Statistics

Twitter Users are Educated

You may look at Twitter and say how pointless it is, however Twitter has very high adoption rates with educated individuals and those with higher incomes. It has become useful for networking and connecting to other professionals as well as a great source for reading up on the news.

Twitter Education Statistics

Twitter Users are Mobile

25% of Facebook users access Facebook using a mobile app or browser. Twitter, probably due to it’s simplicity and a long list of third party apps, show 63% of users have accessed the service with their mobile phone.

Twitter is an Exchange for Products and Services

Twitter is also becoming a key way to engage consumers, customers and networking with other professionals. Over 40% of users use Twitter to learn about products and services. 28% are using  Twitter to find discounts and special offers. 20% seek customer support. On the business end, over 30% have used it to poll their customers and users and many corporations have adopted Twitter as a way to serve their customers (while cutting down customer service costs!).

Twitter Follow Brands

More Stats for the Twitter Business Mind

Interesting Data on When Twitter Users are most Active. Useful if you are a twitter marketer trying to determine the optimal time to reach your users.

Highest Usage Days: Thursday & Friday
Lowest Usage Days: Saturday & Sunday

Twitter Usage By Day Statistics

Twitters are Night Owls

Twitter Hour by Hour Statistics

Other Rule of Thumb Advice:

  • More you tweet links, the less likely people are going to click those links
  • Know when your user are most active and tweet during those times to maximize engagement
  • Highest click thru rate tends to be early evening right after work hours.
  • Weekend has lowest volume but has shown highest click rates
  • Fridays have the highest % of retweets

Share your thoughts on Twitter

  • So Are you a Twitter User?
  • Do you think Twitter is useful?
  • Do you think Twitter is a fad or is it here to stay?


[poll id=”13″]

You may also like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *