Most Folks Quit Twitter After One Month -- Why?

[GratefulDad]

For those of us who have heard about Twitter, but never taken the time bother with it, this may be why. Maybe we reached a social networking and/or technology saturation point.

[switched.com/2009/05/25/most-folks-quit-twitter-after-one-month-why?icid=sphere_blogsmith_(name removed by moderator)age_switched](http://www.switched.com/2009/05/25/...er-after-one-month-why?icid=sphere_blogsmith_(name removed by moderator)age_switched)

"As we wrote last week, most Twitter users quit after the first month. While 70-percent of Facebook and MySpace members are still using the services a month after signing up, only 40 percent stick around at Twitter. The question is why?

For a service that enjoys considerable popularity amongst celebrities and the tech-elite, it’s shocking that Twitter can’t seem to hold on to customers. Adam Sternbergh of New York Magazine suggests that maybe Twitter just isn’t meant for the general public. Sternbergh wonders, “Just what is [Twitter] good for?”

Here’s an intriguing answer courtesy of a NY Magazine commenter: Twitter is perfect for “involving your brand in relevant conversations.” Your brand? As a writer, politician, celebrity, etc. your name is your brand. And, as Sternbergh notes, these are exactly the types of people who, “think that their every stray thought is publishable poetry.”

He may be on to something, but we think it’s too soon to tell. What do you think? Is Twitter less a social networking tool and more a marketing tool for the self-absorbed? [From: NYMag.com]"

 

[pumpkinbeast]

I use Twitter a bit, but I think it’s the kind of thing that is more useful for a small group of friends/family who really want to stay connected, or like to chat sort of IM style without having to be logged into an IM service all day. For example, a husband and wife could Twitter back and forth during their days, while one stays at home with the kids and the other is at work in an office. Sort of like emailing, but faster, and it’s expected to be short. I follow one celebrity on Twitter, Felicia Day, and she doesn’t post every little thought that comes into her head. But she isn’t your usual air-head actress, either. Some people use it like a mini-blog. Twitter is interesting because you can be as superficial or as deep as you want about it. You could tweet every time you sneeze, or you could tweet just once a day with some thought that occurred to you, or a quote that you liked. It’s what you make it. Someone wrote a book on Twitter! It’s called ‘The Good Captain’, you can look it up.

If anyone does Twitter here on CAF, mine is pumpkinbeast ^^

 

[Em_in_FL]

Interesting…
I enjoy using Facebook, but have never been attracted to Twitter… so I’m just part of the statistic…

 

[GratefulDad]

It does seem like Twitter has some good applications, but most of the technical hacks(ok, mostly guys) I know laud it, for being to much of a good thing. With a family of six and a potential CAF addiction, DW would not be happy with realtime Tweets.

 

[Eucharisted]

I use Twitter to spread the gospel. It serves a good purpose of evangelizing many people. Check out my profile: twitter.com/eucharisted

As far as staying connected, being together all the time via technology can definitely waterdown your love for someone.

 

[LongingForLight]

I use Twitter to spread the gospel. It serves a good purpose of evangelizing many people.

As far as staying connected, being together all the time via technology can definitely waterdown your love for someone.

Love how you are using Twitter! Disagree about staying connected via technology watering down your love, though - maybe it’s a personality thing, but DH and I find that IMing throughout the day really helps keep the spark going.

I’m one of the people who actively uses Facebook. I’ve tried Twitter, and my experience was that no one else I knew used it - they were all on Facebook. So I accomplish the same thing with Facebook updates. I think the “saturation” theory makes a lot of sense.

However, I have seen people using Twitter to update Facebook status - and that does sound attractive. Precisely because there are so many ways to keep people in touch with your life these days, being able to update in one place and publish to multiple places sounds like a good thing. At some point, I’ll probably take ten minutes to look up Twitter again and see just how powerful it is.

I don’t think that Twitter is just for self-obsessed people. I recently posted a forum post about how, as an introvert, I was having trouble dealing with relatives who want to hear from me frequently, and looking for advice. The problem ended up resolving itself when I pointed them to my Facebook page. My status updates do a lot to help them feel “in touch”. I can see Twitter easily filling the same nitch, especially if it can be used to talk to multiple networks at once. I currently just do Facebook, which means the few friends I have on MySpace are occasionally nagging me to join. I’d love to be able to update to both at once automagically.

It truly is beyond me why people care so much about how I spend my time, but I can see that it matters to them. Perhaps it is just that hearing trivia reassures them that nothing truly awful is happening in my life - after all, I would hardly be posting about my pea plants and tomatoes if one of my children was in the hospital or something, right? And, by keeping tabs on me as the woman of the house, people are really keeping tabs on the whole household. It’s one of the parts of being a mother that I really dislike - you are the social face for the family, unless your husband really steps in and takes over that aggressively. I had to really work to get people to schedule playdates or visits to the kids during my workday directly with my SAHD husband, rather than going through me. I would expect SAHMs and many other women to really find social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc. as useful as I do.

 

[GratefulDad]

It is interesting the uses of these messages limited to 160 Characters, but distributed in realtime. My college girls only Tweet on the weekends and in the summer. We have a cousin who is a grandmother and Wedding Planner/Bridal Consultant, she just got into Twitter this Spring and said she does not know how she lived without it. The only time things fell apart was when a Mother of the Bride ran out of battery power on her cell.

 

[MooCowSteph]

I’m on Twitter but not really into it. I’m totally anonymus on there, too, though, so I’m not staying in tough with IRL friends. I just don’t think it has as many uses as Facebook, which I find much more enjoyable. But a few news people like Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin use Twitter, so I follow them on there.

 

[OLHope]

I’m on Twitter but not really into it. I’m totally anonymus on there, too, though, so I’m not staying in tough with IRL friends. I just don’t think it has as many uses as Facebook, which I find much more enjoyable. But a few news people like Glenn Beck and Michelle Malkin use Twitter, so I follow them on there.

I think that it would be fun for a little while when you have friends on there and you are all using it at the same times, but everything goes through a phase, and it is great to have real time updates especially with news, media, and entertainment…, but they use that for just that, to promote themselves or their businesses.

I am bothered by people knowing too much about me and my every move and trying to catch me in a snafu when I may say I needed to go to the grocery store but I played on the computer instead and got caught in what they would deem as a lie.

Also, you can do updates like this on bebo, facebook, myspace…, the trend is catching on. So maybe people are going to other options now.

 

[GratefulDad]

I think that it would be fun for a little while when you have friends on there and you are all using it at the same times, but everything goes through a phase, and it is great to have real time updates especially with news, media, and entertainment…, but they use that for just that, to promote themselves or their businesses.

I am bothered by people knowing too much about me and my every move and trying to catch me in a snafu when I may say I needed to go to the grocery store but I played on the computer instead and got caught in what they would deem as a lie.

Also, you can do updates like this on bebo, facebook, myspace…, the trend is catching on. So maybe people are going to other options now.

Microsoft just released the Window Mobile version of Face Book two weeks ago so you can now have real Face Book on your Pocket PC Phone or Widows Smart Phone.

 

[LaLucia]

I prefer just using my telephone to talk to my friends and family. It is more fun for me because there is an interaction between us. Plus, it is private information.

 

[KCT]

I’m just too busy . . .