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Twitter Stats - Growing but Still Niche
March 15, 2007
In response to Simon Collister's request, I will share some stats on Twitter for both the UK and US. After hearing the chorus of tweets about Twitter in the UK blogging community, I had looked at Twitter data on Hitwise a few weeks ago. I chose not to blog it then, as our data shows that whilst Twitter is growing, it is still a niche website. This struck me as a fairly obvious observation so I didn't want to share it. However, Simon's question about whether the site has reached a tipping point and drawing comparisons to Jaiku gives me a perfect excuse to share the data ! :)
For those of you not familiar with Twitter, it is a self described "global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing?" Members are able to update their profile and answer the question through text messages, IM or online. It is a fantastically easy way to upload content to the web. I am not a twitterer myself, but you can see examples on the website or read Simon Collister's post on the subject which offers an excellent summary of the conversation.
As Simon suggests, Twitter is growing. Last week, Twitter.com ranked 862 in our Net Communities and Chat category. In February, the site ranked #364 among 5,765 websites in the category. As the chart below illustrates, Twitter was growing - strong and steady - since October. However, something happened in March and visits to the site have declined. Small sites are volatile - their market share and rank swings quite a bit and so we may yet see a recovery in March. However, I would not say this site has tipped.
There are a couple of explanations for this. It could just be an anomaly that will pass in a couple of weeks and the site's traffic may well recover shortly. Alternatively, it could be that the site was growing rapidly, fuelled by attention in the media and blogosphere. However, those who came have not returned. Upon hearing about Twitter, I visited a few times, but I'll admit, I haven't been back to the site in awhile. I am not holding myself up as the average consumer, but my behaviour offers an example of what others may have done.
As Simon suggests, Twitter is stronger than Jaiku. We are not capturing enough visits to Jaiku's website to chart it. Given that we captured visits to nearly 6,000 websites in our Net Communities and Chat category last week, we can assume that Jaiku is not getting much UK traffic.
Searches for "twitter" spiked up in late February but declined again back to 0% of all UK Internet searches so far in March. Search data is another good measure of popularity and buzz.
Some say that Brits are not early adopters. I am not sure I agree with that sentiment, but perhaps it is worth looking at our more-exuberant cousins across the pond? The following chart shows the market share of US Internet visits to Twitter.com. The same decline in visits we saw for the UK in March is not evident in the US.
Based on US internet visits, Twitter.com ranked 1,736 last week among Net Communities and Chat websites and ranked 2,149 last month (among 6,144 websites).
I am not yet ready to say that Twitter has tipped. Perhaps it has among technophile bloggers. Whislt the site shows promise it has a way to go before it reaches a mass audience.
If others interpret this data differently, please do share your comments.
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Posted by Heather Hopkins at 08:02 AM
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- twitter is like walking to school with your friends (Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog)
by: Lynette WebbI’ve held off posting about Twitter until now. Mainly ‘cos I didn’t have the time to do it justice. Click Image to EnlargeI find Twitter intriguing for a number of reasons, not least because it’s fun watchi... [Read More]
Comments
Think you might have a problem in your stats, if I understand how you're measuring Twitter's growth in the way I think you are - Twitter is not just a website. I'm on it about 50 - 100 times a day but almost never through its website.
Posted by Drew B | March 15, 2007 02:09 AM
Hi Heather,
I think that Twitter feels like it has tipped to those that use it. There is now a very good representation of members of the web development community (always the early adopters) as well as well known PR people such as Steve Rubel.
I think the feeling is that if the influencers have made it there that everyone else will follow. I tend to think that influencers often forget how much of an edge-case user they are and that Twittering may represent too much of a time-suck for the general population.
Then again, most people procrastinate in some way... maybe Twitter will be the new way :)
Posted by Daniel Walters | March 15, 2007 01:37 PM
I wonder, however, how much the use of Twitter via IM and SMS has grown or contracted during the same time frame. My anecdotal observations of Twitter have shown that people often start with the web interface, but then shift to IM and/or SMS for updates. That would be consistent with a dropoff in web visits even if the use was increasing.
Posted by Liz Lawley | March 16, 2007 05:41 AM
Cool service or more mindless drivel for the masses. You choose.
Posted by Blog Bloke | March 16, 2007 02:34 PM
A few people commented that our data is for web visits not for IM usage or access via mobile phones. This is absolutely correct and so our data provides one indicator of growth. New adopters are likely visiting the website whlst active users may use other means.
In order to "tip" as I understand it, Twitter would need to keep existing users and grow rapidly. To grow beyond the early adopters, Twitter needs to keep bringing in new users.
That being said, it is absolutely correct that we are measuring website visits.
Posted by Heather Hopkins | March 19, 2007 03:09 AM
Can we can some updated twitter stats please Heather? :-)
Posted by Mike Butcher | June 29, 2007 07:21 AM
Was the drop in March not due to their server problems? If you recall they had problems for best part of a week which would affect the number of visits on the site and also the number of people that then started migrating to Jaiku.
Posted by Jamie Riddell | August 13, 2007 10:41 AM
Pretty fascinating, Heather. I've been reading nothing but Twitter posts of late and with Steve Rubel suggesting cutting back on blogging to Tweet, my world felt like it had tipped.
Thanks for the a reality check!
Posted by Simon Collister | March 15, 2007 01:30 AM