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Print 27 comment(s) - last by kalak.. on Apr 17 at 3:48 PM

Twitter adds 5 million visitors since Febraury

Social networking is one of the favorite uses of the internet for many people all around the globe. Twitter, the micro blogging site, is seeing its popularity boom right now as a sort of cross between social networking and a news site.

InformationWeek reports that Twitter grew 131% since February according to ComScore Media Matrix data. That growth percentage represents an increase of more than 5 million visitors. ComScore analyst Andrew Lipsman wrote in a blog post, "There may certainly be some merit to that [media coverage contributing to the growth of Twitter]. It seems you can't get through a typical newscast anymore without some mention of Twitter."

Lipsman believes that the wide media attention that Twitter is receiving is at least in part due to media attention. He cites Newt Gingrich using Twitter to criticize how President Obama handled the Somali pirate crisis as examples.

Even large and mainstream news sources like CNN are using Twitter to get news out to avid news readers. According to Lipsman, Twitter users are news junkies that visit top news site an average of three times more often than the typical person does. That means that the attraction of avid news followers to twitter is added to the draw that the massive coverage of the service in the media is getting.

Lipsman said, "Like it or not, Twitter is quickly revolutionizing the way our entire news ecosystem operates, from journalist to consumer, and blurring the lines in between." Everything isn't rosy for Twitter and some Twitter users though. With the massive attention that the service gets in the media and its raging popularity, the site has become the target of cybercriminals.

Twitter was hit with a virus recently that sent spam Tweets and many Twitter users are finding that Tweets are read by a much larger audience than they intended and some have lost jobs because of Twitter comments. One prime example is the so-called "Fatty Paycheck" incident where a woman offered a job at Cisco posted a Tweet saying she would hate the work, which was found by a Cisco employee.



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Well...
By corduroygt on 4/16/2009 10:20:16 AM , Rating: 5
That's a lot of twits!




RE: Well...
By acase on 4/16/2009 10:29:47 AM , Rating: 5
TYPO: I think you meant to spell that with an 'a'


RE: Well...
By woof69 on 4/16/09, Rating: 0
RE: Well...
By acase on 4/16/2009 10:42:11 AM , Rating: 4
Or if you have a sense of humor and realize they mean totally different things (in America).


RE: Well...
By Zshazz on 4/16/2009 12:16:24 PM , Rating: 2
Twits tweeting eachother. o_O MY EYES!!!


RE: Well...
By quiksilvr on 4/16/2009 1:38:16 PM , Rating: 2
Well it is spring so...


By callmeroy on 4/16/2009 11:15:05 AM , Rating: 2
I guess in some ways I'm "older" than my age indicates because I sincerly do not get what is so great about Twitter. But I easily understand why it is growing leaps and bounds --- its the new "cool fad" , you know how much of a follower culture we are here in the US --- and with movie stars and other celebs left and right talking about how they have twitter accounts or use it, its not shocking to me that star struck teens and even into early 20-somethings are following suit of their "heroes" and "role models" (laughing).....




By 67STANG on 4/16/2009 11:30:22 AM , Rating: 5
Twitter is for 2 types of people, kids/teens and the unemployed-- and maybe a sprinkling of celebrities.

What productive person has time to log everything they do in a day? A better question is: who is so self-centered to think that anyone else would care that you made a sandwich 5 minutes ago, then you ate it 1 minute later, then drank a beer 2 minutes after, etc.?

To me, this is one of the most idiotic websites in the entire galaxy. Don't get me wrong, cheers to the people that came up with this and are making a quick buck, but once the fad dies, I'll be glad to watch it go away.


By Alphafox78 on 4/16/2009 11:40:04 AM , Rating: 1
you can update what your doing on facebook anyways, so what does twitter do differently?


By MrPickins on 4/16/2009 12:27:01 PM , Rating: 4
Nobody cares about your facebook status either.


By Reclaimer77 on 4/16/2009 1:37:37 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
you can update what your doing on facebook anyways, so what does twitter do differently?


Facebook isn't built entirely around your status update though. And I don't know ANYBODY that actually changes their status more than twice a day, MAX.

Twitter is a retarded web based e-mail program for attention whoring retards.


By Ammohunt on 4/16/2009 1:39:33 PM , Rating: 2
Great points! would you please update your twitter feed so that i can follow you and stay aware of any updates?


Visitors?
By Alphafox78 on 4/16/2009 10:16:16 AM , Rating: 3
Visitors vs. subscribers. I was thinking their subscriber base increased that much, not just visitors. last time I went to visit the site to see if I wanted to make one it wanted me to login right away, I Couldnt even see what the actual site was all about. (I dont use twitter obviously)

Kind of deceiving to say they increased that much when just visitors increased.




RE: Visitors?
By BBeltrami on 4/16/2009 11:07:01 AM , Rating: 4
I thought the same thing. But then again, given the viral nature of the internet, it seems like 121% is pretty anemic. After all, we're hearing about twitter everywhere...

I think twitter is kind of creepy, in addition to being unabashedly narcissistic.

Great quote:
"the wide media attention that Twitter is receiving is at least in part due to media attention"


RE: Visitors?
By Maetryx on 4/16/2009 10:26:08 PM , Rating: 2
Ha ha, you beat me to it.

Lipsman believes that the wide media attention that Twitter is receiving is at least in part due to media attention .


RE: Visitors?
By cochy on 4/16/2009 12:44:14 PM , Rating: 2
Yes. This article/Title is deceiving.
First off you don't add visitors since they've come and gone. So that makes no sense. How many Twitter accounts are there and what's the growth rate of those? That's the real question and the only thing that matters, not how many web hits they get. This article doesn't give an answer therefore is quite meaningless.


Nobody cares...
By Suntan on 4/16/2009 1:03:02 PM , Rating: 2
NOBODY cares if you are about to take a shower!!

If your friends are interested in every single thing you do as you go about your day, you need to get rid of all those friends and get new friends because the friends you currently have are not worth knowing.

-Suntan




RE: Nobody cares...
By MadMan007 on 4/16/2009 1:57:49 PM , Rating: 2
I started to read your post but then I realized I don't really care what someone thinks about Twitter!


RE: Nobody cares...
By callmeroy on 4/17/2009 7:46:33 AM , Rating: 2
I think it would pretty damn funny if someone with mad hacking skills somehow managed to send a twitter message to EVERY SINGLE ACCOUNT in the twitter database that just read something simple like .... "GET A FRIGGIN LIFE!" or something to that effect.


Gee
By RU482 on 4/16/2009 11:05:24 AM , Rating: 2
It couldn't be because every news outlet has been goo-goo gaa-gaaing over Twitter and Facebook for the last few months, could it?




RE: Gee
By MScrip on 4/16/2009 4:28:45 PM , Rating: 2
For news outlets, Twitter makes perfect sense to build an audience. You can follow them and get updates on breaking news as it happens.

Twitter is definitely a great way to interact with your fans. And a hell of a lot better than subscribing to an e-mail newsletter!

However, I don't have Twitter sending SMS to my Blackberry, so I don't get updates as soon as they are posted. I only see Tweets when I check the site or check Twitter on my phone. But it's still better than not getting any news at all.


Growth concurrent with unemployment?
By mmcdonalataocdotgov on 4/16/2009 11:12:18 AM , Rating: 2
I would be interested to find out if there was a causal connection here. Hmmm, I'm out of work and have nothing to do... I know, I'll tweet some inane stuff.




By Master Kenobi (blog) on 4/16/2009 11:38:40 AM , Rating: 2
I think you nailed it.


time to sell out!
By MadMan007 on 4/16/2009 12:18:48 PM , Rating: 2
The twitter creators really ought to consider selling out sooner rather than later. Once the fad subsides or competitors come around they might not be able to demand as much. Doesn't make money? Who cares! It's dotcom 2.0.




quake live
By nevbie on 4/16/2009 10:21:07 PM , Rating: 2
quake live went open beta at the end of feb, and they have simple updates posted in a twitter page.

that's all.




Unemployed Tweeters
By veravox on 4/17/2009 1:39:31 AM , Rating: 2
Twitterworld is filled with musings of smart, unemployed white collar peeps and a rise of commercial content, self promoters, social media gurus tweeting their brains out, and very little content of merit. Is there medication for those who are obsessive compulsive tweeters -- it's epidemic.




WTF ???
By kalak on 4/17/2009 3:48:27 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Lipsman believes that the wide media attention that Twitter is receiving is at least in part due to media attention .


????




"So, I think the same thing of the music industry. They can't say that they're losing money, you know what I'm saying. They just probably don't have the same surplus that they had." -- Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA














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