The problem is that we have come to expect such extraordinary performance, particularly from social media, that anything less than mind-boggling gets termed a calamity.
The user engagement issue has dogged Twitter since its inception. Initially people signed up, but then activated their accounts at much lower rates than other social media. Now, the accounts are activated, but usage is infrequent. Is it that those of us who can not afford to hire PR people to craft our 140 character tweets aren't clever enough to think of anything to say? That the 'I am now waiting on the security line at the airport' messaging is so inane that it has descended from ridicule to self-parody?
The lack of engagement is a management problem, not a technology problem. Users have to be encouraged, prodded, inspired and, yes, maybe, bribed, er incentivized to use it more frequently and, perhaps, more creatively. For instance, it is not clear that teens use it as much as they use texting and Facebook. And they are the future.
There is an argument that says Twitter's founders have been too busy high-fiving each other and taking tech conference victory laps. That building solid, long-term growth takes more effort than they and their backers may have realized. Just ask the folks at Myspace.
Whatever the numbers mean, they are a gift. Because they could be a warning sign that attention must be paid. And in this life, we are rarely given the opportunity to fix something before it goes really bad. Twitter has that chance and it will be instructive to see what they do with it. JL
Jeff Bercovici reports in Forbes:
Twitter is growing in all sorts of ways: in the number of tweets sent per day, in the ad revenue it’s taking in, in the number of celebrities and brands using it in ways they quickly come to regret.
But in terms of the overall proportion of the population engaging with the social messenging service, it might be in a bit of a lull.
In a new report, the Pew Internet and American Life Project says that, as of February 2012, 15% of adults who are online use Twitter. That proportion is “similar” to the 13% who were using the service the last time Pew asked the question, in May 2011.
But while “[o]verall Twitter adoption remains steady,” according to Pew, usage is growing in other ways. Existing users are engaging more often, with the proportion who say they use it daily doubling from 4% last May to 8% last February. And adoption in the youngest demographic is accelerating, with 31% of adults age 18 to 24 now using Twitter, up from 18% last May.
Still, with the company moving toward a rumored IPO, analysts will be watching closely for any signs of moderating growth, especially with all the difficulties around the Facebook offering. Those looking to compare Twitter unfavorably to Facebook can find ample ammunition.
Pew doesn’t ask survey respondents about Facebook usage specifically, but given its dominance, the questions it does ask about overall use of social media services provide a “pretty good proxy” for Facebook, says Aaron Smith, senior research specialist.
Facebook launched in February 2004, making a little more than two years older than Twitter. By the time it was six years old, as Twitter is now, its penetration had already surpassed 50%, as this chart shows.
A temporary flattening of Twitter’s adoption curve wouldn’t necessarily rule out a Facebook-like future, says Smith. Overall adoption of social networks (ie. Facebook) “went in fits and starts” until 2009, when it really exploded.
Still, he adds, “obviously, just looking at the user numbers, Facebook has had a growth rate that’s unique by all sorts of standards.”
On the face of it, Pew’s survey findings don’t seem to agree with usage numbers Twitter has announced. The company has said its number of active users — its preferred metric — ballooned 40% between September 2011 and March 2012, and now stands at over 140 million. I’ve reached out to Twitter PR for comment on Pew’s numbers and will update this post if I hear back
Via email, a Twitter spokesman responds:
Growth is extremely strong. We announced that we have more than 140 million active users in March. The previous number we shared was 100 million active users just last September.
To add to that, it took us 3 years, 2 months and 1 day to reach 1 billion Tweets. Now, we see more than 1 billion Tweets every 3 days.
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