Tweeters ask – is anybody out there?

Social networking site Twitter has by most standards seen explosive growth. Classified as a micro-blogging network, Twitter has become one of the buzzwords of the last year. Some studies, however, question whether the users of the service, quaintly referred to as “Tweeters”, are as active as was once thought. These naysayers tell us that just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the content — this according to a Harvard study of some 300,000 users.

The concept behind Twitter is quite simple. Users communicates their thoughts, feelings or actions in short bursts of text, up to 140 characters at a time. This communication utilizes text messaging streams, e-mails and cellphone networks to bounce from user to user.

Twitter has, by popular agreement, seen explosive growth. Research from Nielsen Online tells us that visitors to the Twitter site have increased by 1282% to over 7 million in the year ending February 2009. By the summer of 2009 this figure is expected to grow past 10 million. In comparison, the very popular social networking site Facebook has grown by “just” 228% during that same period.

The Harvard study estimates that the median number of lifetime tweets per user is just one, a striking finding. Bill Heil, a graduate from Harvard who carried out this work, thus concludes that Twitter is a broadcast medium rather than a way to conduct an intimate conversation with friends. Further conclusions indicate that men had 15% more followers than women, despite there being more female users, or Tweeters, than male users. Heil further observed that very few people use the service to publish information, and that the vast majority prefer to be passive consumers.

Despite the claims by the service provider that Twitter is a way to communicate and stay connected, it appears that this communication might be one way, or for the majority of people, very brief. The Harvard study also found that more than 60% of Twitter users in the United States did not return to the service the month after they joined up.

Whilst the majority appear to be one-time visitors, at the other end of the spectrum there are some “super users” in the network that can have hundreds of thousands of followers. As an example, actor Ashton Kutcher currently has more than 2 million followers.

Are you still returning to Twitter? Let us know about your Twitter experiences.

Matthew Toren