Survey Says: Twitter is a Waste of Time

I recently came across a study on Twitter that was conducted by Pear Analytics.  It was interesting in that they wanted to find out how we all REALLY use Twitter.  Their hypothesis or assumption was that Twitter was mainly used for self-promotion (those of us that want to push our wares out to the Twitterverse hoping for a buck or two.) When the results came back, however, there easily could be a case that says Twitter… is a complete waste of time!

Before you jump at my throat, read the report for yourself! Then let’s talk! (Get it here)

Twitter is Full of Useless, Unwanted Information

The clear winner of the categories the surveyed tweets were collected into was “Pointless Babble.”  I found this completely interesting – and yet not surprising – in that so many of those I have connected to constantly share information, input, web links, news stories, conversations and more that I truly deem valuable.  So for me, Twitter is quickly becoming a valuable tool to my further professional and personal development!

However, I really am not surprised by the results. Why?  Because the results reflect how Twitter was originally built. The original concept was simple, answer the question “What are you doing right now?” So for any Twitter newbie, they thought the idea was to tell you they were scratching their foot, going to the movies, or watching Grey’s Anatomy.

Over time, those of us that have been using Twitter have found new ways to use it as a communications platform.  We do not care to answer the original question, but desire to connect, converse, share, link, debate, and promote ourselves to one another.  This changes the value perception of Twitter… at least for me.

The Five Loud Mouths of Twitter

The part of the study that really caught my attention was the highlight of a visual representation Dave MCandless did for Gizmodo titled If Only 100 People Were on Twitter. What intrigued me was the section stating that “5 loud mouths created 75% of the tweets” on Twitter.  So out of the 28 million people that Quantcast states Twitter attracts per month (accessed 8/27/09), 5% of those are the ones who create the bulk of the conversation (albeit, that’s like 1.4 million people!)  So in truth, there is A LOT of waste on Twitter! Over 50% of it could be called waste in my opinion!

Marketers Have a Case for Why Twitter Won’t Work?

WOW! As a marketer, I have to ask myself this: If 50% of Twitter is useless and there are actually only 1.35 million ACTIVE participants that may engage my brand, what percentage is actually my customer? Is that large enough to support an effort that will require full-time support, tracking, and engagement?

Now, this is just a simple question most will ask themselves being that Twitter has been one of the most hyped-up “you gotta be on here” places for businesses, and yet we do not have many case studies of long-term success of using Twitter to engage customers of a large corporation.

Is Twitter a Waste of Time to You?

It’s your turn now. I want to know, what percentage of what you read on Twitter is a waste of time?