Marketing Pilgrim's "Research" Channel

Sponsor Marketing Pilgrim's Research Channel today! Get in front of some of the most influential readers in the Internet and social media marketing industry. Contact us today!
by
11 Comments

Why I’m Giving Twitter Grader’s “State of the Twittersphere” a B+

posted on December 23, 2008


Thanks to the high number of people that use HubSpot’s Twitter Grader tool, the company is able to provide us with the first "State of the Twittersphere" report.

Analyzing 600,000 Twitter profiles should provide enough valuable data on how we use Twitter–although keep reading for my concern on this–and the main findings include:

  • Twitter is dominated by newer users – 70% of Twitter users joined in 2008
  • An estimated 5-10 thousand new accounts are opened per day
  • 35% of Twitter users have 10 or fewer followers
  • 9% of Twitter users follow no one at all
  • There is a strong correlation between the number of followers you have and the number of people you follow

OK, here is my concern. What if these numbers are heavily skewed by the type of Twitter user that uses Twitter Grader? Most of the people that I observe getting obsessed over their "Twitter Grade" tend to be newer to the service anyway–evidenced by the fact that as you use Twitter, you realize it’s not a numbers game.

Don’t get me wrong, you should read this report–it’s packed with some interesting stats–but I’m holding out for Twitter itself to release some numbers.


Related Posts

Zemanta
  • Lisa

    I agree with your perspective. I’ve been on Twitter for a year and I am very particular about who I follow – and who follows me. The obsession with having thousands of followers is just as bizarre as having thousands of friends – you know no one well.

  • http://Blog.HubSpot.com Mike Volpe – HubSpot

    Clearly the best data would come from Twitter themselves! But without that, we believe our sample of over 600,000 Twitter profiles is pretty useful. For instance within our sample – which seems to be about 10 percent of Twitter as a whole – three percent had 0 followers, 9 percent didn’t follow anyone else, and 22 percent had five or fewer followers. So I don’t think our sample is only the most vain or active users.

    PS – I’ll take the B+ with pleasure. The only ones who can get an A are Twitter themselves…

  • Pingback: The HubSpot State of the Twittersphere Report | Gauravonomics Blog

  • http://www.frankthinking.com Frank Reed

    Stats are stats. We always need to consider the source, understand the limitations then make judgments or decisions based on our situation as it relates to the data.

    No one has truly figured out anything and right now any data around something as new as Twitter that is growing as fast as Twitter is just a snapshot and a blurry one at that.

    With anything that measures anything if you do not subscribe to “Let the buyer beware” then you are traveling at your own risk.

    Frank Reed’s last blog post..Merry Christmas to All

  • http://www.free-istuff.co.uk Milo

    “Twitter is dominated by new users”
    Isn’t that a given? Twitter isn’t exactly the oldest tool, and the more hype it’s had, the more people are going to want to join…

    Nobody had heard of Twitter in 07… Not even me! :o

  • http://www.argentinawarez.com/ Argentina Warez

    I really don’t like Twitter i doesn’t see the sense, i think the best for get visitors to Blogs is sending news to Digg, Delicious, etc and having a good Search Engine Friendly Blog for Google.

  • http://8disk.net Silvia

    I think that Twitter is one of the best Internet marketing tools ever created. Twitter is also considered to be a great traffic source.

  • http://www.fairytalebaby.com jason kuiper

    I just signed up to twitter and love it! Thanks guys

  • http://www.velvetblues.com Shirley

    Interesting stats. I haven’t heard of the TwitterGrader tool, but I have used their WebsiteGrader tool.

    Shirley’s last blog post..Perhaps You Shouldn’t Blog!

  • Pingback: » Zahlen Daten Statistik - Internet, Social Media, Social Web und Web 2.0

  • http://www.dataflurry.com DF Marketing SEO

    Pretty neat stuff! I wish that they didn’t use a NoFollow attribute! I am all too often about links, but I still use twitter all the time!!!

Filed Under: Research, Social