The other month Sysomos identified that 5% of Twitter users account for the vast majority of activity, which would put Twitter’s active user base at around 2.5 million (60% in the US), as opposed to the 50 million odd registered accounts.
This chart that I picked up via Cheap Talk and Michael Nielsen confirms this - 75% of users have less than ten followers and I’d argue that Twitter first really becomes useful when you have 20-50 followers upwards.
Interestingly enough, the break through appears to happen in week two. If someone is still tweeting in their second week, it’s more likely than not that they will hang around.
That two week incubation period seems to be the thing for Twitter to zero in on if they want to bring down the high rate of churn - something that needs to happen before it really does meet its stated aim of becoming “the pulse of the planet.”
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I wonder if all this social media hyperbole really represents how humanity will communicate in the future. So many people want passive entertainment. Tools like Facebook and Twitter require an effort to learn, sort of like a musical instrument. Thinks of how many of your acquaintances really play the piano or sing or dance … 5%, tops? Maybe the early adopters of social media tools are projecting the trend too far?