For several months I’ve been using the social media site Twitter. I use it for four primary purposes:
- To connect and chat with other local users
- As an outlet for random utterances and announcements
- Entertainment
- As a newsfeed
In general it’s a useful tool. When I first signed up I would sometimes encounter a service failure or “Fail Whale,” but I’ve I’ve rarely gotten any of those since September.
HubSpot compiled a statistical look at Twitter use in its “State of the Twittersphere – Q4 2008 Report.” Some of the findings:
* 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
Interestingly, the report also indicates that Twitter use is highest at mid-week.
I’m currently following 117 users and have 100 followers. I follow several news and other websites–perhaps too many, as it’s annoying when those sites fire off a bunch of tweets in a row.
I’ll continue following more users, but not too many more. There’s a balance to strike between having a steady flow of content and being overwhelmed. I’m thinking that following more than 200 feeds is closer to the latter.