Do you twitter?
 

I still don't think I will ever twitter - was debating with a colleague recently and although they seemed to get something out of it it's not something I'm likely to do.

What about you?

Is quitting Twitter more popular than re-tweeting? by AP: Yahoo! Tech

Is quitting Twitter more popular than re-tweeting?

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer - Thu Apr 30, 2009 5:14PM EDT

SAN FRANCISCO -
Twitter quitters outnumber the flock of habitual tweeters on the rapidly growing online communications service, a new study suggests.

Most people aren't joining the Web site's jumble of conversations for very long. More than 60 percent of Twitter's U.S. users don't return a month later, based on an analysis of traffic trends unveiled this week by the research firm Nielsen Online.

The lackluster retention rate of 40 percent suggests many people don't see the point in spending time on Twitter, which allows anyone to write about what they're doing or what's on their mind in messages, or "tweets," limited to 140 characters.

While some of the chirping is entertaining, thought-provoking or just downright helpful, much of the chatter can be quite banal as people update when they are eating, drinking and even puking.

Nielsen's conclusions initially were ridiculed by some Twitter fans because the research firm didn't attempt to account for applications on mobile phones and other devices that bypass the Web site.

That limitation raised the possibility that Nielsen was wrongly characterizing some active users as Twitter quitters, prompting the firm to measure the alternative methods for tweeting. Nielsen still found about 60 percent of Twitter users aren't sticking around.

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Nielsen Online's findings.

Despite the defectors, Twitter is amassing an impressive audience. In March, the San Francisco-based service attracted a U.S. audience of 13.9 million, up from roughly 500,000 users at the same juncture last year, Nielsen said.

Given that Twitter received an endorsement from Oprah Winfrey on her television show in April, that month's numbers will likely be substantially higher.

A high turnover rate isn't unusual when a young Web site starts to catch on, but 3-year-old Twitter is losing users at a quicker pace than Facebook and MySpace did at comparable stages of their growth, according to Nielsen.

Both Facebook and MySpace were retaining about 60 percent a few years ago and now are holding on to about 70 percent of their traffic.

"Twitter has enjoyed a nice ride over the last few months, but it will not be able to sustain its meteoric rise without establishing a higher level of user loyalty," David Martin, Nielsen Online's vice president of primary research, wrote in a blog posting.

Nope, But it's been discussed.
Everytime i hear the term I think of
the word twit.

http://www.xoutpost.com/off-topic/lo...n-twitter.html
http://www.xoutpost.com/off-topic/lo...ter-whore.html

Me too!!!! I thought it was just because I grew up more with UK English.

I can't get myself to use Twitter. It just seems silly. I find Facebook bad enough in terms of "people's status" and what they're doing. LinkedIn is different -- that's a good thing.

:iagree: I'm on board with LinkedIn also, but thats it for the social online stuff.

Yes I twitter, but only when I don't 'tap' him enough times after going.

Hell no, won't use it. I hate MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Will you be my friend? How gay.

ps. Yes, I have tried them all, still don't like them. If I was a lonely 13 year old girl, attention whore, enjoyed putting my life on display to strangers, or otherwise felt compelled to be connected to others 24/7, maybe I would. Millions love the concept, I'm just not one of them. Diff' strokes.

Letting other twits (who really don't care) know what you're doing at any given time (which they care even less about) seems really pointless.

Unless I'm a thief and want to break into your 7000 sq ft house. While you're away for the weekend in Phoenix sipping martinis solo and twittering away on your iPhone because you have no real friends. Hmmmm....

Nope...Life is too short as it is and it would cut into my XOutpost time.

Actually, that's a good point! I'm not talking about the "how gay", I'm talking about the "will you be my friend".

It's not even your friends that you're twitting -- it could be any celebrities. It could be anyone who you think has a more interesting life than yours... Who cares what they're doing? I don't get it.

Guilty. I use it :)

If you use it and people you know use it, you'll see a point to it. If you don't, you will not. Pretty simple ;) Like most things, I've never watched American Idol but I get while people watch it.

And the unbelievable part, people follow me......:rofl: