Twitter users that never tweet
A new study reported by Ars Technica reveals that more than half of the people with Twitter accounts have never sent a tweet and have no followers:
A new report about how the majority of the population uses Twitter reveals that most people, well… don’t really use it. The microblogging service has grown exponentially over the last year, but a little more than half of its users have never sent a single tweet, according to the latest report from HubSpot. The report reminds us that, like many Web services, much of the content is produced by a small number of users while everyone else likes to look in and watch.
In breaking news, I can also reveal that many people who buy books never get around to reading them; that video-tapes and DVR harddrives are full of shows that never get watched; and that a significant number of wardrobes in this country contain unused exercise equipment bought from late-night infomercial programmes.
sigh…
Your Comments
Wendy writes:
what about sets of steak knives that cut through shoe leather…don’t tell me that they don’t work either?!
Posted: 11 06 2009 - 14:13 | Permanent link to this comment
Catriona writes:
Well, I’ve tweeted nearly 1500 times in the two and a half/three months since I joined, so I’m doing my part for the Twittersphere.
Also, I talk a great deal.
(I do, however, eventually get around to reading my books.)
Posted: 11 06 2009 - 14:37 | Permanent link to this comment
tseen writes:
puts hand up
I’m a rare tweeter. I’ve done a few but, unless I check in regularly and have that kind of constant dynamic with others to create a sense of ‘community’ or conversation, it’s Facebook all over again for me! I de-activated my Fb account a while back. Perhaps I’m just not cut out for these new-fangled SNSs. I still like sending snail-mail letters, for heaven’s sakes.
Posted: 12 06 2009 - 09:45 | Permanent link to this comment
John writes:
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that Tseen. Better to examine something before you dismiss it, than speak from a position of ignorance. That’s why capitalism invented concepts like hire-purchase and “try before you buy” schemes.
My point was that whenever you read a report like this (usually in the good ol’ mainstream media) it is usually couched in terms that describe it as some sort of moral failing on the part of the service, or that the service is all hype and no value. Actually, people have always subscribed to things; bought things; gotten involved in things, and then later lost interest: it is hardly unique to online media.
It is the same with “reports” that people waste time at work on Facebook or blogs (looks guiltily over shoulder), but apparently never played solitaire or read magazines on the boss’s time.
Posted: 12 06 2009 - 10:14 | Permanent link to this comment
Lisa writes:
The mainstream media seem to be both fascinated and obsessed with Twitter at the moment and the overwhelming impression from reports like this one is that they just don’t get it.
Posted: 12 06 2009 - 10:27 | Permanent link to this comment
Matthew Smith writes:
Did you know that 99.99% of people who consumed mainstream media in the last fifty years ever bothered to publish in the same media outlets? FAIL
Posted: 12 06 2009 - 15:59 | Permanent link to this comment
Sam writes:
They could say that people used to procrastinate before Facebook or that people don’t always watch TV shows they record, but that doesn’t advantage anyone. By pointing out the same cases in new media they are able to take away from the hype of online interactivity and implicitly re-assert the power of the conventional media that may be threatened by social networks like Twitter.
I’m not sure that is Ars Technica’s motivation for posting, but I’d bet that other sources would use the same information for that purpose.
Posted: 12 06 2009 - 23:23 | Permanent link to this comment