Twitter Hater = GD USA
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009I loved this editor’s note in the Graphic Design USA newsletter today. With all the hype around twitter its good to hear some from the other side. Perspective is king:
PUBLISHERS NOTE: TWITTER QUITTERS
Being a skeptic of the latest and greatest new media fads is not fun. I hate being that guy, but sometimes the hype becomes unbearable. Twitter is the latest example. Daytime media coverage! Celebrity endorsements! Ballooning traffic numbers! Marketers get on board! Venture capital on the move! This changes everything! Except for one inconvenient truth. Nielsen Online reports that more than 60 percent of Twitter users in a given month do not return to the site the following month; some months 70 percent abandon the service. Why the pitiful retention rate? The Nielsen folks speculate that Twitter may be a fad, and one reason is lack of meaningful content. Ya think? As I write this, Ashton Kutcher, the face of the medium, is generating his longest tweet of the day: “I wonder if people need less sleep in space. It seems sleep is gravity’s vaccine.” Later he’s planning to “kick it with Usher.” Can’t wait to log back in and see what theories that twosome — or their entourages — come up with.
— Gordon Kaye
