Nielsen Online research in recent months revealed that Twitter's retention rate of users coming back the month after joining was a low 40%. This means 60% of Twitter subscribers do not return in month 2.
40% looks especially low compared to the 70% retention rate of fellow social media website Facebook.
However what numbers cannot measure is the power of Twitter for business, the power of Twitter for organisations and the power of Twitter for individuals.
Businesses first...
At KayWeb, we have built websites for over 100 businesses. They have relied on Google for traffic for many years, and continue to do so. Some clients - including DashPR - have started Twitter accounts in recent months, and their following has grown exponentially.
These clients have put up their website news items' links, blogs' links, etc on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, but their stats show their websites end up receiving 70% more clickthroughs from Twitter than any other social medium.
Organisations...
CNN is a massive example. The self-proclaimed "most trusted name in news" trusts Twitter to deliver news from places CNN can't get to. The last week has seen the Iran Elections receive coverage it would not have received had it not been for Iranian Twitter users posting and communicating with the now-"interceptors of news" CNN.
See video below and make sense of it however you see fit:
The reporter doesn't even know what to call 'traditional media'!
Individuals...
I will focus on celebrities here. In their business, staying relevant is all that matters.
Ashton Kutcher, P Diddy, Kim Kardashian and others have thrown parties to celebrate having 1,000,000 followers on Twitter!
Australian actor Hugh Jackman earned widespread praise when he invited Twitter users to suggest which charity he should donate a big cheque to. He followed through and donated to two worthwhile causes.
Bloggers have become far more successful than pre-Twitter. It has effectively become an RSS feed for their articles, except the number of subscribers is the amount of followers they have.
Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Barry O'Farrell and many other politicians are individuals benefiting with the networking Twitter allows. Nobody minds listening to a politician if they are limited to 140 characters!
The power of Twitter is not in doubt. Plus, if you follow cool people, it is great fun, and a great way to get breaking news... or goss... whatever your preference.
Twitter is a micro-blogging website, where users post their thoughts with a limit of 140 characters per post.
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