Twitter Study August 2009

Introduction
We recenLly compleLed a sLudy on 1wluer ln search of ndlng ouL whaL
people are !"#$$% uslng 1wluer for. We also compared our research wlLh
oLher sLudles LhaL were recenLly done Lo see how Lhe daLa compared
and lf Lhere were any obvlous correlauons.
?ou may have nouced LhaL 1wluer recenLly re-vamped Lhelr own
homepage, movlng away from WhaL are you dolng now?" Lo Share
and dlscover whaL's happenlng rlghL now, anywhere ln Lhe world". uoes
LhaL mean LhaL 1wluer ls Lrylng Lo become a real-ume news source of
cluzen [ournallsLs?
lL also prompLs new users Lo !oln Lhe conversauon" - buL ls LhaL really
whaL 1wluer users are really Lweeung" abouL? ls lL really full of
meanlngful conversauon, or senseless babble? ls 1wluer meanL Lo be a
place Lo share sllly commenLs and phoLos wlLh your frlends, or a greaL
place Lo promoLe your company's producL or servlce? Many markeLers
are Lrylng Lo gure ouL" how Lo converse wlLh poLenual cusLomers -
buL should Lhey? Cr ls Lhls why soclal medla was creaLed ln Lhe rsL
place - so consumers could ranL abouL Lhe corporauons of Lhe world?
!"#$%&'()*+,-,
Cur lnlual hypoLhesls LhaL we lnLended Lo prove was LhaL 1wluer was
belng used predomlnanLly for self-promouon. 1hese are LweeLs LhaL are
Lrylng Lo push a producL, servlce or have a dlsuncL 1wluer only oer"
of some klnd. Cur daLa wlll show LhaL Lhls ls noL Lhe case.
Cld 1wluer:
WhaL are you dolng?
new 1wluer:
Share and dlscover whaL's
happenlng rlghL now,
anywhere ln Lhe world.
Twitter Demographics
Accordlng Lo CuanLcasL.com, 1wluer has some lnLeresung demographlcs
LhaL Lhey have esumaLed as of !une 2009:
! 1wluer reaches 27 mllllon people per monLh ln Lhe u.S.
! 33 are female
! 43 are beLween 18 and 34
! 78 Caucaslan, buL Afrlcan Amerlcan users are 33 above lnLerneL
average
! Average household lncome ls beLween $30 and $60k
! 1 of Lhe addlcLs conLrlbuLe 33 of Lhe vlslLs
! 72 are passers-by, whlle only 27 are regular users
Source: hup://www.quanLcasL.com/Lwluer.com#demographlcs
How Our Study Was Conducted
1o conducL Lhls sLudy, we randomly sampled Lhe
publlc umellne Monday Lhrough lrlday, every 30
mlnuLes from 11:00 am Lo 3:00 pm for Lwo weeks
(10 days ln LoLal). 1herefore, we Look 200
samples from Lhe umellne (ln Lngllsh) each day
for a LoLal sample daLa seL of 2,000 polnLs (or
LweeLs).
1he LweeLs were Lhen caLegorlzed lnLo slx areas Lo
Lhe rlghL.
now, lf Lhere were any LweeLs LhaL could L -.)(
more Lhan one caLegory (whlch was rare), lf lL
sLarLed wlLh [", we deemed lL as conversauonal,
even lf lL was a news lLem or self-promouon.
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Any sorL of maln sLream news LhaL you mlghL nd on your nauonal
news sLauons such as Cnn, lox or oLhers. 1hls dld noL lnclude Lech
news or soclal medla news LhaL you mlghL nd on 1echCrunch or
Mashable.
1'23
1hese are Lhe LweeLs such as See how l goL 3,000 followers ln one
day" Lype of LweeLs.
1+4567#(3(8(.
1hese are Lyplcal corporaLe LweeLs abouL producLs, servlces, or
1wluer only" promos.
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1hese are Lhe l am eaung a sandwlch now" LweeLs.
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1hese are LweeLs LhaL go back and forLh beLween folks, almosL ln an
lnsLanL message fashlon, as well as LweeLs LhaL Lry Lo engage
followers ln conversauon, such as quesuons or polls.
72,,6=4(.>$?24"+
1hese are any LweeLs wlLh an 81" ln lL.
now, lf Lhere were any LweeLs LhaL could L -.)( more Lhan one
caLegory (whlch was rare), lf lL sLarLed wlLh [", we deemed lL as
conversauonal, even lf lL was a news lLem or self-promouon.
The Results
1he resulLs were lnLeresung, and noL ln Lhe order LhaL we
anuclpaLed. lor lnsLance, we LhoughL LhaL boLh Spam and
Self-romouon percenLages would be much hlgher. We
were also surprlsed how close Conversauonal was Lo belng
ln Lhe Lop percenLage posluon. We would venLure Lo guess
LhaL lf Lhls sLudy were conducLed for a longer perlod of ume,
Conversauonal and olnLless 8abble would llkely Lrade
places back and forLh, and ulumaLely even ouL.
WhaL's also lnLeresung ls LhaL ass-Along value ranks 3
rd
ln
usage, albelL a far dlsLance from Lhe number one or Lwo
usage caLegorles.
Also, we LhoughL Lhe news caLegory would have more
welghL Lhan dead lasL, slnce Lhls seems Lo be conLrary Lo
1wluer's new posluon of belng Lhe premler source of news
and evenLs.
Self-promouon was also less Lhan expecLed aL 3.83 of all
LweeLs. 1hls may be enllghLenlng Lo some folks, as Lhere
appears Lo be a urry of companles and buslnesses [olnlng
1wluer Lo promoLe producLs and servlces.
Conversauonal"
ass-Along value"
The Results
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1he charL below lndlcaLes from our daLa whaL umes of Lhe day you mlghL expecL cerLaln Lypes of LweeLs. WhaL
was lnLeresung Lo us was LhaL Lhe ass-along value LweeLs were mosL prevalenL aL 11:30a CS1, wlLh anoLher splke
beLween 4:00 and 4:30p CS1. 1he hlghesL LweeLs are hlghllghLed for each caLegory.
The Results
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1he charL below creaLes and lnLeresung correlauon beLween Lhe Lype of LweeL and whaL day of Lhe week ln
Lends Lo occur more frequenLly. ln Lhls charL, we hlghllghLed Lhe hlghesL occurrence of LweeLs for Lhe day of Lhe
week. So for example, re-LweeLs happen mosL oen on Mondays, whlle news LweeLs occur mosL oen on
1uesdays. 1he caLegory wlLh Lhe largesL gap beLween Lhe hlghesL occurrence and Lhe second-hlghesL
occurrence was self-promouon, where Lhe hlghesL occurrence was 8.3 of Lhe LweeLs on Wednesdays, and Lhe
second-hlghesL occurrence aL 6.23 on 1uesdays.
Other Studies
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Clzmodo recenLly publlshed a blog posL lf Cnly
100 eople Were on 1wluer" and whaL lL would
look llke. 1he daLa vlsuallzauon was done by
uave MCandless. WhaL sLands ouL here ls Lhe
3 loud mouLhs", or 3 of Lhe folks who
conLrlbuLe 73 of Lhe LweeLs.
Source: hup://glzmodo.com/3330049/lf-only-100-people-were-ln-Lwluer
Other Studies
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Accordlng Lo lnLerneL markeung experL, Cary
McCarey, he says he recelved Lhe mosL
referrals from 1wluer beLween 1:00 and 2:00p
S1, buL also sald you would geL Lhe hlghesL
chance of gemng exposure beLween 9:00a and
3:00p. Pe even shares hls referral Lramc:
Source: hup://www.garymccarey.com/blog/2009/03/19/when-ls-Lhe-besL-ume-Lo-LweeL-for-maxlmum-Lwluer-Lramc-and-exposure/
Other Studies
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?.$%,<@3,4556,
Mauhew 8obson, a 13-year old lnLern aL Morgan SLanley, wroLe an
lnLeresung reporL on why 1wluer ls noL Lhe hoL new Lhlng ln hlgh
school. Pls answer: lL's noL safe.
1eens llke lacebook and MySpace because Lhey have Lhe ablllLy Lo
selecL who Lhey wanL Lo connecL Lo, who Lhey wanL Lo share emalls,
screen names and phone numbers wlLh. 1wluer ls noL closed ln Lhe
same manner. Anyone can follow your sLaLus updaLes.
Pe also menuoned (whlch was lnLeresung), LhaL 1wluer ls also seen as
expenslve" Lo keep up wlLh. 1helr parenLs usually pay Lhe phone bllls,
and are noL wllllng Lo pony up for unllmlLed Lexung. 1herefore, Lhey
would raLher send LexLs Lo frlends who wlll acLually respond, versus
sendlng LexLs Lo updaLe a 1wluer sLaLus where Lhey have no ldea who
wlll read or reply Lo lL.
Pe goes on Lo say LhaL lacebook has a more dedlcaLed communlLy Lhan
1wluer, and he's rlghL. !usL comparlng CuanLcasL daLa beLween Lhe Lwo
soclal neLworklng slLes, you can see LhaL lacebook has 12x Lhe number
of addlcLs" compared Lo 1wluer, and 2x more regular vlslLors. Also,
nouce LhaL 72 of people are passers-by" compared Lo half LhaL on
lacebook.
Twitter
Facebook
Source: hup://quanLcasL.com
Try This
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Cne of our favorlLe Lools we are currenLly beLa Lesung ls
called hllLro (hup://phllLro.com). hllLro wlll Lake your
unruly 1weeLs and narrow Lhem down Lo whaL you acLually
care abouL. MosL of us are busy professlonals, so we don'L
necessarlly have all day Lo spend on soclal medla ouLleLs, so
wouldn'L lL be nlce lf you could log lnLo your accounL, and see
Lhe 1weeLs you mosL care abouL for Lhe day? 1hey have a
complex algorlLhm LhaL wlll show Lhe LweeLs LhaL mosL
lnLeresL you based on whaL you Lhumb up" or Lhumb
down". lL prlmarlly looks aL Lhe conLenL of Lhe LweeL, so even
lf you Lhumb down" a frlend, LhaL doesn'L mean you are
permanenLly lLerlng Lhem ouL - [usL LhaL Lype of LweeL.
Cne of Lhe oLher problems wlLh mosL of Lhe apps ouL Lhere ls
LhaL Lhey wlll only capLure your LweeLs ln a shorL wlndow.
1hls means LhaL lf Lhere was a really good LweeL, you can
easlly mlss lL lf you are noL conunuously on Lop of lL. hllLro
wlll also be solvlng Lhls problem ln Lhe upcomlng weeks.
Source: hup://phllLro.com
Conclusion
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As 1wluer conunues Lo evolve, noL only as a brand buL from a
user's perspecuve, lL ls llkely LhaL Lhe usage pauerns wlll
change. We dld noL predlcL LhaL Conversauonal would be as
hlgh as lL was, or LhaL Self-romouon was golng Lo be as low
as lL was.
ear Analyucs wlll be publlshlng new daLa quarLerly ln an
auempL Lo ldenufy and assess new Lrends ln 1wluer usage.
About Pear Analytics
B*2)$B+$A(
ear Analyucs ls a San AnLonlo-based producLs and servlces
rm LhaL speclallzes ln markeung analyucs, lnslghLs and
lnLelllgence. 1hey have a varleLy of nauonal cllenLs ln several
lndusLrles lncludlng healLhcare, Lechnology, educauon,
manufacLurlng and more where Lhey consulL Lhem wlLh
search englne opumlzauon and pald search sLraLegles,
markeung performance measuremenL and web-based Lool
developmenL. 1helr currenL producL ls Lhe WebslLe Analyzer,
a free SLC analysls Lool for webslLe owners who need non-
Lechnlcal lnsLrucuons on how Lo lmprove Lhelr webslLe for
search englnes. lor more lnformauon, please vlslL
www.pearanalyucs.com.
lor lnqulrles, please conLacL 8yan kelly,
ryan[pearanalyucs.com.