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

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 by Andy Beal

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

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.

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

Lisa Says:

December 23rd, 2008 at 10:46 am

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.
Mike Volpe - HubSpot Says:

December 23rd, 2008 at 1:39 pm

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…
The HubSpot State of the Twittersphere Report | Gauravonomics Blog Says:

December 23rd, 2008 at 5:18 pm

[...] meaningful comment in several posts on the report (Search Engine Watch, TechCrunch, ReadWriteWeb, Andy Beal), I finally found some intelligent insights from Stowe Boyd – What annoys me about the State [...]
Frank Reed Says:

December 24th, 2008 at 9:59 am

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
Milo Says:

December 27th, 2008 at 10:41 am

“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!
Argentina Warez Says:

December 27th, 2008 at 11:18 am

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.
Silvia Says:

December 28th, 2008 at 7:15 am

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

January 4th, 2009 at 9:22 pm

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

January 6th, 2009 at 12:25 am

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!
» Zahlen Daten Statistik - Internet, Social Media, Social Web und Web 2.0 Says:

January 15th, 2009 at 8:59 am

[...] der momentanen Twitteruserzahl ist Zuwachs von 2008, 5-10 Tsd. neue Accounts gibt es pro [...]
DF Marketing SEO Says:

January 16th, 2009 at 10:38 am

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!!!

Marketing Pilgrim