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Twitter Isn’t As Loud As You Think

Occasionally, we talk about some of the latest Twitter facts to see how much the site is growing.  We have seen both the amount of users and the numbers of tweets each month continue to grow, with an occasional slow down.  But a new study from Barracuda Labs, a Web security company, shows that not even a third of the users are tweeting.

The study looked at an astonishing 19 million users, and defined a “True Twitter user” as someone who has at least 10 followers, is following 10 others, and has at least 10 tweets.  Seems simple, right? Surprisingly, only 21 % of the 19 million were defined at a true user.  So 79% of twitter users rarely even use their account!

60% of users are following less than 10 people, while 74% have less than 10 people following them back.  73% of users have less than 10 tweets total, while 34% have not tweeted at least once. 

According to Paul Judge, the author of the report, Twitter is being used more as a news feed, than a social network.  But with so many people joining Twitter last year, how can the social network, which plays an important voice throughout the world, stay so quiet?

Judge says that 2009 was the “Red Carpet Era.”  It’s when celebrities like Ashton & Oprah joined the social network.  When Ashton & CNN competed to see who could be the first to get a million followers, the site saw an instant spike in user registration, but most of those haven’t even used the site since. 

The numbers are shocking.  I know that Twitter, as much as I’d like it to be, isn’t for everyone.  But with Twitter as a news source, and a way to generate customer/business interaction, how can anyone not be taking advantage of the social network.  If you’d like to read all 30 pages of the report, it can be found here.