[LINK] Twitter drop-off rates (was Re: Forum on high speed bandwidth in Australia - this Thursday)

[Stilgherrian]

On 04/05/2009, at 4:17 PM, Tom Koltai wrote:
> Empirical research is showing that 60% of twitter users drop off  
> after a
> month through lack of interest and too many distractions - never to
> return.

The number is 60%, based on Neilsen data -- which is based, in turn,  
on visits to the website.

Some observations:

   * There is nothing to suggest WHY people stop using Twitter
     in this data, that's just speculation.

   * A retention rate of 40% a month later after opening an
     account is actually rather good -- especially compared with
     Second Life. Many people will try Twitter because they saw
     a media story, and its benefits are not immediately obvious
     unless you start using it.

   * People who DO start using Twitter properly soon move from
     using the website to using client software -- which calls
     the API directly and therefore won't be measured by
     Neilsen's JavaScript web bugs.

It's certainly fair to say that some people will try Twitter, won't  
like it or won't "get" it, and will not return. But to point to this  
retention rate and imagine this is a negative of Twitter is invalid  
unless we start comparing it with other services.

And maybe they will come back, later. ;)

Stil


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