By Jim McCarthy May 4, 2009 0 comments

Like I Said, “Twitter Like You Mean it” (Or Don’t)

Twitter has lived what seems to be a whole life in just the last couple months…

From hip, but still mostly unknown Geek fave to enormous mainstream awareness to hints of decline in less time than it takes to hold the NBA Playoffs.

It’s funny to me how commentators big and small delight in both the rise and the potential fall of something like Twitter.  By ‘funny’ I don’t mean ‘odd.’  I mean funny like a joke, because they are ridiculous and primarily need something to write about.

Is there a German word for hoping to experience joy at the unhappiness of others?  A combination of Wishful Thinking and Schadenfreude?  Maybe Fahrvergnugen thrown in for good measure?

If so, that’s the word I’d use to describe this article, about the high rates of Twitter’s new user departures.  Here’s the key tidbit:

“Twitter quitters outnumber the flock of habitual tweeters on the rapidly growing online communications service, a new study suggests.

Most people aren’t joining the Web site’s jumble of conversations for very long. More than 60 percent of Twitter’s U.S. users don’t return a month later, based on an analysis of traffic trends released this week by the research firm Nielsen Online.”

Ok, here’s what you need to know about this.  Lots of people have poured into Twitter because of the attention it’s gotten, but the reality is that it’s not for everyone.  It’s not email, and it’s never going to be.

Instead, it’s a killer app for a large niche, and that’s perfectly ok.  Most of the people leaving Twitter now never really were the right audience in the first place.

I’m not saying this because I worry about defending Twitter.  I essentially have no dog in that fight, but I can tell you that Twitter will continue to grow, fast by any standard, and at some point in the next year or two, begin to slow.  By then, it will be enormous, and an excellent channel of communication for the things for which it makes sense.

I’ll repeat that last part again:  “for the things for which it makes sense.”

If all you’ve ever done on Twitter is create an account, post “Still trying to figure out this Twitter thing,” followed 3 or 4 of your friends, then it’s probably not for you.  There’s a bit of overhead involved in getting value out of Twitter, and many simply won’t (and shouldn’t) bother.

But for a live entertainment marketer, it does make sense for you, provided your audience has pulse.

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