I joined Twitter just about when my grandbaby was born . . . and that was a few weeks before Oprah, early in 2009. Back then there were somewhere around 10 million Tweeple. Now there are more than 145 million.
Jack Dorsey’s visit to my San Francisco State marketing class convinced me that Twitter was NOT a fad. And now it’s my job to convince my many Baby Boomer friends and business colleagues that they need to get on Twitter sooner rather than later.
Here’s how Twitter has grown — and changed — since 2009
[from a post in ReadWriteweb]
1. People who created a Twitter profile before January 2009 now account for just 4.7% of the total Twitter population. [Love to think I started the UP trend :-)]
2. 82% of Twitter users now provide a name, compared with only 33% in 2009.
3. 73% provide location information, compared to 44% in 2009.
4. Having a profile on Twitter is becoming increasingly important.
5. The vast majority of Twitter users – 95.8% – follow less than 500 people.
6. What Sysomos calls “a small hard-core group” – 2.2% of Twitter users – have accounted for 58.3% of all tweets, while 22.5% of Twitter users have accounted for about 90% of all activity in 2010. In 2009, Sysomos reported that 5% of users accounted for 75% of all activity, 10% account for 86% of activity, and the top 30% account for 97.4%.
Are you on Twitter yet? If so, how do you fit into those stats?
If not, WHY NOT!!
Oh yes… 1699 followers and counting 🙂
🙂
I don’t really remember when I joined Twitter, but it was around a year ago. I joined for one reason… the son of a long-ago friend is on there, and I wanted to re-establish contact with her! The son was a 12-year-old boy when I last saw them, and now he’s in his mid-40s!
It’s only in the past six months or so that I’ve begun to use Twitter at all, and it’s still somewhat sporadic.
From the beginning, though, I gave my real name, my location and a link to my site.
Willena
Willena, have you found any “friends” via twitter; I know I have!! . . . in addition to lots and lots of info 🙂
Hi Shari,
Looks like I’m an original Tweeter (started 11/08). I used my really name (Debbie_L) and included my city. And I follow 4000 people.
Thanks for the stats. Love them.
Just tweeted your Klout score: 43. Nice going Debbie
🙂
Let’s go back to your words above the statistics:
“And now it’s my job to convince my many Baby Boomer friends and business colleagues that they need to get on Twitter sooner rather than later.”
How do statistics of people using Twitter help anyone realize the benefits of using Twitter? Show case studies, link to best practices. The fact that x percent are using their real names or including locations in their tweets is not indicative one should create an account at all.
So, how are you convincing people, Shari?
And… if Aaron Sorkin hadn’t come out with The Social Network film this year, my hunch is Zuckerburg wouldn’t be Time’s Man of the Year.
Hi Ari, thanks to your comment and my response, my mind is churning with ideas for further blog posts to answer your questions. One prospective title would be “Should you fall in love with Twitter?”
🙂
Re: the stats reported in the ReadWriteWeb article [also posted on Mashable]. Unfortunately quantity over quality too often influences people.
Help me, Shari, for your logic is failing me. How do metrics of people using Twitter imply one should create an account?
The KEY word in your question is the word “help” i.e. help convince you to create a Twitter account. There are many reasons, but this particular post is an example of how I am trying to share my online discoveries in short, palatable pieces, i.e., Briefly Stated.
As to the “answer” to your question, one of the implications is similar to why Mark Zuckerburg is Time’s Man of the Year — the fact that Facebook’s popularity is making FB the Place To Be. The Briefly Stated metrics about Twitter are just the Tip of the Iceberg, just like in an Earnest Hemingway story, the “truth” [significance] is in the mountain below the surface. Does that “help” in any way?