Twitter Boasts Big Numbers, but Has it Already Peaked?
Twitter is big, but has it already peaked? Here’s a rundown of some of the social networking giant’s current statistics and facts, along with a look at Twitter’s outlook.
The good people at HubSpot have rounded up a healthy collection of facts about Twitter today. Among them are:
- There are 75 million Twitter users around the world
- Twitter’s active user base generates 140 million tweets a day
- About 7 percent of Americans are using Twitter
- The average Twitter user has 27 followers
- Twitter users are more educated than the general population
- Twitter users have higher incomes than the general population
- Twitter users tend to be early adopters
- Twitter plays an active role in purchasing decisions
- 67 percent of Twitter users are more likely to buy brands they follow
- Companies using Twitter average twice as many leads per month than those that don’t
According to Twitter’s own PR team, in the first quarter of 2011, the site saw its global tweets per day increase 41 percent – 38 percent in the U.S.
Twitter also saw a 52 percent boost in its monthly Twitter account signups from December to March – 57 percent in the U.S. Also, there was a 50 percent growth in Twitter’s monthly unique mobile signups.
The Twitter app continues to grow in popularity, as the Android app saw a 104 percent boom in its monthly users in the first quarter, while the iPad app saw a 72 percent increase, the iPhone app saw a 55 percent increase and the BlackBerry apps saw a 51 percent increase.
Updating HubSpot’s fact No. 2 above, Twitter reports that in the first quarter it was handling 155 million tweets per day, up from 55 million at the same time last year.
It’s clear that these are some significant numbers and facts to note, but is everything dandy for Twitter these days? Maybe not, according to numbers from comScore, which show that U.S. Twitter traffic has leveled off for almost the past two years.
An article from Cynthia Boris at Marketing Pilgrim also highlights statistics showing that 90 percent of tweets are sent from just 25 percent of Twitter users, as well as the social network’s recent run-ins with third-party developers.
But there’s a distinct tension between what Twitter is and what users want it to be, according to Boris: “What they want, is for Twitter to be something it’s not. It’s not made for conversation. It’s not made for long statements. It’s a bulletin board big enough for the whole world to see. It’s about telling the world what you’re watching right now, what you ate for breakfast and who ticked you off, big time. That’s what it is and that’s what it does.”
With murmurs of UberMedia launching a full-on competitor to Twitter, it’s clear that its arena may be getting a bit more crowded and cloudy.
Sources:</strong
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/12234/10-Essential-Twitter-Stats-Data.aspx
http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/06/twitter-q1-stats/
http://mashable.com/2011/04/19/active-twitter-users-have-shorter-relationships-stats/
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/04/as-twitter-slips-potential-competitors-close-in.html
