Twitter hype punctured by study

[edesignuk]

Micro-blogging service Twitter remains the preserve of a few, despite the hype surrounding it, according to research.

Just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content, a Harvard study of 300,000 users found.

Estimates suggest it now has more than 10 million users and is growing faster than any other social network.

However, the Harvard team found that more than half of all people using Twitter updated their page less than once every 74 days.

And most people only ever "tweet" once during their lifetime, the researchers found.

BBC.

They don't make any money, and their costs are increasing along with their popularity. How long until they collapse, it doesn't seem at all sustainable?

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Good. I'm glad. I hate that everyone has jumped onto Twitter, and I get so annoyed every time I hear it mentioned on TV.


I hate to be one of those people, but I was on Twitter a good two years before it was cool.

 

[rdowns]

I use it occasionally but don't really see much of a need for it.

CNN seems to love it.

Daily Show did a good piece on it.

 

[Abstract]

Twitter is just one of those phenomena that I've heard of, but don't know of anybody who actually uses it.

It's like Britney fans. Millions of people have bought her albums, and yet I've never met a single one.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Twitter is just one of those phenomena that I've heard of, but don't know of anybody who actually uses it.

It's like Britney fans. Millions of people have bought her albums, and yet I've never met a single one.

Nice to meet you. I'm Jimmy.

 

[0098386]

Twitter is just one of those phenomena that I've heard of, but don't know of anybody who actually uses it.

It's like Britney fans. Millions of people have bought her albums, and yet I've never met a single one.

Heh, that's a good way of putting it. I think I've only met 1 person with a Twitter account, he persuaded me into signing up but I haven't bothered with it beyond the "o hai" first post.

 

[yellow]

I hate to be one of those people, but I was on Twitter a good two years before it was cool.

Twitter was never cool.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

Twitter was never cool.

That's true. I think it started off as a goofy way to tell a select group of friends some news (no, eating breakfast does not count as news). Now Twitter is seen as a weird way to read about breakfast cereal.

 

[yellow]

Thus far I've resisted the urge to join. Facebook is about as far as I'm wiling to go.

 

[jmann]

I love twitter. It is entertaining to me.

 

[Capt Underpants]

I like twitter.

It's so damn simple.

 

[anjinha]

The thing is, twitter isn't just to use with people you know, it's also so you follow people who have something of interest to say.

 

[PlaceofDis]

The thing is, twitter isn't just to use with people you know, it's also so you follow people who have something of interest to say.

exactly. twitter has some serious potential, and its a laid back way to communicate with those close to you as well. its good because its simple, just like facebook was back when that started. the moment twitter expands upon its simplicity is the moment it loses its greatness.

 

[NT1440]

I hate what social networking has done to this generation. As if we weren't attention defficit enough, now everyone expects to know everything going on with everyone else instantly.

 

[Melrose]

The thing is, twitter isn't just to use with people you know, it's also so you follow people who have something of interest to say.

Word.

Twitter Honchos need to speed up the process of deleting dead accounts and clean it up a bit.

Someone needs to buy it before it goes kaput. Still, YouTube is still around and that been bleeding cash since day one...

 

[twoodcc]

i kinda like twitter. granted, i don't use it that much. but i am using it more now than when i first joined