The fact of the matter is, we’re relatively far and few between, according to a study by Barracuda Networks. One day, we’re told Twitter is growing exponentially, the next, it’s a dying service that’s stalled out like your grandpa’s Studebaker. But does growth, or the lack thereof, actually translate into use?
According to Barracuda Networks, the Internet security research company, Twitter looks to be an insider app, one that many people sign up for and never really use. Or perhaps it’s like the sixth grade dance, with a few doing the waltz and the rest lurking on the edges of the room, afraid to ask the girl from math class for a dance.
The company analyzed more than 19 million Twitter users and found that a surprisingly small number were actually brave enough to ask the girl to dance, so to say.
Out of the more than 19 million users analyzed, only 21 percent, or just under 4 million, are considered to be “True Twitter Users”, a term applied using some extremely lenient criteria. To be considered a “True” Twitter user, a user needs to have 10 followers, follow 10 others and have tweeted 10 times.
For the most part, Twitter’s explosive growth really seems to be a party that millions of people came, saw, and quickly decided to leave. But despite the sticker shock of these initial numbers, the report shows that those who decided to stay are becoming increasingly active. Last June, 30 percent of users had no followers, whereas only 17 percent are follower-less now. The same goes for people following other users – the number following zero, less than five and less than 10 have all decreased since last June.
So, maybe Twitter isn’t quite exploding and it isn’t quite stalling out. Instead, it’s still indeed growing at a very regular, unimpressive rate and most people decide they don’t want to use it after all. Quick, somebody do another study, before we think Twitter is just doing something average for too long.
