Cell Phones, Web, Social Networking
Most Twitter Users (Oprah Included) Quit After First Month
Do you cringe every time you hear the word 'Twitter?' Maybe gag a little bit whenever someone mentions 'Oprah' and 'tweeting' in the same sentence? Patience, Twitter haters; the cacophony of tweets may be dying down. Despite the media's infatuation with the social networking site, Nielsen Online is reporting that 60-percent of Twitter's first-time visitors give up on tweeting after a single month.
While the attrition rate is an improvement over the previous month's, which was 70-percent, Twitter still holds on to far fewer of its members than do rival sites Facebook and MySpace, which both boast 70-percent retention rates. Nielsen predicts that this may damage Twitter's long-term success, as the future might not find "enough new users to make up for defecting ones."
Don't fret too much, Twitter lovers. The numbers may not be fully indicative of the true number of twitterers, as Nielsen only tracked traffic to the Twitter.com URL. Mobile viewers -- who exist in large numbers because the site's 140-character-or-less messages predispose it for easy viewing on phones and iPods -- were not taken into account.
We're not going to put too much stock in this survey, as Twitter is still a relatively new site and many people visit just to see what the talking heads' hubbub is all about. And, even though Oprah hasn't been twittering at the same frequency as Ashton, we all know that, if Oprah tweets it, they will come.
One thing we do know is, Twitter has been hard for lots of people to figure out, so, if you count yourself as one of those people, then be sure to check out our Twitter 101: Tips and Tricks tutorial. [From: Nielsen and Media Memo]
Celebrities on Twitter
Recently, media personalities have taken to celebrity Twitterers like fat kids to the neighborhood ice cream truck. But don't be fooled, dear readers. We here at Switched are the fattest on the block. So, without further ado, we present to you the most ridiculous, significant, misspelled and/or out-of-context tweets by the most recognizable folks we could find. Enjoy.
Shaquille O'Neal
"I'm goin to the alamo tomorro to get one of those daniel boone squirrel tail hats, I'm n san antonio, in case u didn't kno were the alamo is"
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Tina Fey
"I don't know why I even bother chewing corn anymore."
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Ashton Kutcher
"There's nothing cool about being a pimp. Pimp = Slave Owner"
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Britney Spears
"Britney went to Jerry's Deli last night for after shopping at Target. She had a black and white milkshake with dinner. Lauren"
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John Tesh
"JT is shopping with women. I need a guy film."
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Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz
"When I'm asleep on the inside only you get my acid washed mind."
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President Barack Obama
"We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion. All of this happened because of you. Thanks"
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Senator John McCain
"YEs!! I am twittering on my blackberry but not without a little help!"
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John Cleese
"Thinking about tooth decay..."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
seriousam7 said 5:43PM on 4-29-2009
Sooooo glad I'm not the only one who hates that site.
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Mike said 6:24PM on 4-29-2009
I tried Twitter...for about five days. The banal, stupid, and worthless chatter of people who have nothing to do is beyond the scope of any thinking individual. It is a useless and ridiculous service for the highly narcissistic.
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ryaninc said 6:33AM on 4-30-2009
The key to Twitter is carefully managing your following list. If a person tweets too many times, just unfollow them. It took a little while, but mine is pretty perfect now and I actually enjoy reading each update I receive. But yes, there were times, especially at the beginning, when I was overwhelmed and frustrated.
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TDoc said 5:13PM on 4-30-2009
The Twitterverse is basically like the real world, full of BS and silly stuff, except that you could be exposed to a whole lot of those if you follow a lot of people like that... so choose to "follow" wisely and you can make the best use out of something you can sign up for free.
See interesting arguments on the matter:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/is_tweeting_fleeting/
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THINK said 2:07PM on 5-02-2009
What is there to figure out? It's like Myspace with their comments and status feature. The same with Facebook. I admit, even though I rarely use mine, I still go on to follow people and check out the celebrities on there. And instead of posting long blogs, just type 140 characters and get straight to the point.
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paul said 12:11AM on 5-04-2009
i think alot of ppl (like me) have twitter accounts just to follow a few personalities we find interesting for a reason or another, getting perhaps the closest thing to a one-on-one medium we could ever get with them.
we might not have anyone else to tweet to, and also, that we eventually just end up bored with those folks' tweets might be the bigger reason why we might not be updating our 'follow feed' so often in time...
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