Tweet Then Retreat?

We've all done it - signed up for something, tried it a few times, and then promptly moved on to the next thing. Danny over at Digital Dirt would probably agree that this only adds to our online trail, but beyond that, we can also be seriously skewing numbers for social media services like Twitter.

Nielson Online released a report yesterday that said that "currently, more than 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month, making them 'Twitter Quitters.'" I kind of love that they coined that term, even though it has some serious implications for one of my new favorite social media tools. This is a huge number of people opening accounts and not returning regularly, and even though total number of users are largely unknown (I have seen estimates from 5 million to 19 after the big celebrity showdowns of the last few weeks) the service is still trying to attract marketers and generate revenue, both of which could be seriously compromised if it looks like the lights are on, but nobodies home.

When compared to Facebook and MySpace when they were growing their audiences, Twitter's retention rate numbers look even more woeful:

I am still pretty optimistic though, so don't fret my tweeps - Twitter, in my opinion, is an entirely different animal. While many join to see what its all about, they lose interest when there is no one there to talk to. As more and more people join, those who lost interest will probably give it another go.

As I've mentioned, I joined in order to communicate with a group, and that is what kept me going. Now that friends, colleagues and fun celebrities are in the mix, I am fairly addicted. So no worries, Twitter, they'll come back...they always do.

Tweet Revenge

In this wired world of ours, it is amazing how freely we give our information. As my friend Danny over at Digital Dirt can attest, once you put it out there it is pretty hard to take it back. Yet practically on a daily basis I see people posting up on Facebook how much they hate their jobs, how bored they are or even worse, what they are spending their time doing while they are clearly writing from the office. While I have never dissed my job on a social network I am certainly guilty of posting during working hours as well. But at least I try to keep it to a minimum, only putting up vitally important things like weekend plans...so, um, what was my point?

Oh yeah, so back to lamenting your job to the masses - people, if that random girl you vaguely remember who sat next to you in Algebra I (oh so many years ago) can see your post about how you wish you could tell your boss exactly what he can do with his TPS reports, then guess what? Your boss can probably see it too. Awkward.

And if not your boss, then how about your HR department? What do you think all of those people are doing now that the recession has caused so many companies to implement hiring freezes? They are looking for fat to trim, so don't be the bacon!

Clearly, I am no expert. I mean, I joined Twitter along with the other members of my poker group last December so we could keep tabs on each other during a trial run at the Master Cleanse. If you are familiar with it, I am sure you can imagine the lovely posts we were sending out into the Twitterverse about "salt water bathing." I don't think it even occurred to me at that point that other acquaintances might be on as well.

Perhaps "theconnor" another Twitter user thought the same thing when he sent out the following tweet:

Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.

I read about this on Switched.com, and as much as I love schadenfreude (and by the way I overheard some high-schoolers use that word last weekend and I was utterly amazed, but then skeptical that they might have learned about it from "Avenue Q") I felt bad for the person who, of course, got a response from a Cisco employee. This is nothing new, of course. There are countless other stories of people losing jobs, relationships and even court cases from foolish posts. Let's try harder to keep a few things to ourselves, shall we?

I for one just want to say how much I love my job and the people I work with...for no particular reason, I just like to say it.