Twitter 'not as popular as many marketers believe' 

Friday, March 25 2011 by Kate Billinghurst

Twitter use can vary widely, though one fact remains: the company itself knows there to be 175 million accounts as of September 2010.

However, managed emarketing firms may be a little less enamoured by a new eMarketer study, which noted how a range of firms tracking unique visitor numbers to Twitter.com saw between 20 million and 26 million individual users a month last year.

This is because of duplicate accounts, many international users, those who quit as soon as they joined, and the number of people just reading public tweets and not fully immersing themselves in the service.

eMarketer believes that 20.6 million US adults will use a Twitter account at least monthly during this year, jumping from 26.3 per cent from a comparatively small 16.4 million last year.

Growth will likely register in double digits through 2013, when nearly 28 million adults will be using Twitter.

Highlighting the issues facing website promotion tactics was Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the report entitled Twitter Users: A Vocal Minority, who said: "Twitter users are a sizeable and growing bunch, but their numbers are considerably smaller than those disseminated by many media outlets and Twitter itself.

"In the US, this means tens of millions of users, as opposed to hundreds of millions."

eMarketer went on to reference the demographic profile of Twitter users put together by Pew Internet & American Life Project, which found how around ten per cent of American female internet users and seven per cent of their male counterparts were involved in Twitter, predominantly younger generations.

Mr Verna added: "Brands should consider the demographics and usage habits of the Twitter audience as they plan marketing initiatives and ad buys on Twitter.

"Setting realistic expectations based on a thorough data analysis will yield better results than getting swept up in overhyped estimates."

This week, the Procedure Committee concluded that tablets and smartphones can be allowed in the House of Commons, while tweeting should be approved.

Living Streams "Improving clients' profitability through better use of the internet".

Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008292