In a story by Todd Wasserman in Brandweek, a new study from RJ Metrics shows that the Twitter craze has hit the ceiling. In the middle of last year, Twitter's growth slowed from 7.8 million new users per month to 6.2 million. What's more, only 17 percent of users updated their accounts in December. (An all-time low.) Earlier, a Nielson study found that 60 percent of Twitter users don't return from month to month.
This data, however, may be misleading because so many users access their accounts in ways other than through their Twitter home pages.
Regardless, sentiment about the platform is changing.
Says Converse CMO Geoff Cotrill, "Twitter has become the butt of a joke. You start seeing in popular culture people making fun of Twitter. There will be a new media toy that will replace it in a year or two." Joel Ewanick, group vp of marketing for Hyundai, feels Facebook, which has replicated many of of Twitter's best features, to be a much better product. And according to Venture Blog, some P&G executives told venture capitalists that they didn't consider Twitter "particularly relevant to they're doing on the brand-building and advertising side."
Verizon, which spent more than $1 billion on advertising in 2009 has accumulated about 0.3 percent the amount that Perez Hilton has. Delta's account went without a single update last year from June 17 to December 22. And Apple doesn't even bother with having presence on Twitter.
This data, however, may be misleading because so many users access their accounts in ways other than through their Twitter home pages.
Regardless, sentiment about the platform is changing.
Says Converse CMO Geoff Cotrill, "Twitter has become the butt of a joke. You start seeing in popular culture people making fun of Twitter. There will be a new media toy that will replace it in a year or two." Joel Ewanick, group vp of marketing for Hyundai, feels Facebook, which has replicated many of of Twitter's best features, to be a much better product. And according to Venture Blog, some P&G executives told venture capitalists that they didn't consider Twitter "particularly relevant to they're doing on the brand-building and advertising side."
Verizon, which spent more than $1 billion on advertising in 2009 has accumulated about 0.3 percent the amount that Perez Hilton has. Delta's account went without a single update last year from June 17 to December 22. And Apple doesn't even bother with having presence on Twitter.
But there are also those who claim great success using Twitter. Dell, for example, boasted an ROI of $6.5 million in Twitter-based revenues in 2009. Best Buy is trying to follow suit, but so far, with more modest success.
Companies that do the best with it tend to be smaller and less known.
Twitter does provide value as a platform for PR, CRM and promotions.
But for this bird, it looks like the sky is no longer the limit.
-Mark
Insightful, and good food for thought, Mark. Twitter's bird may have indeed flown the coop.
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