[flames1971]

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[ALUmnus]

A lot of the early adopters are looking for something else because Twitter is now "mainstream."

You guys.....

[phoenix]

A lot of the early adopters are looking for something else because Twitter is now "mainstream."

You guys.....

Not me -- I was about a year too late to be an early adopter.

A lot of people are using local installs of laconica. Kinda like using Linux rather than Windows, except laconica is easier to use. That seems to be the pretentious geek equivalent of Twitter.

[PAmedic]

I tried that LU twitter- for about 2 days.

After getting 15 texts an hour- I shut the freakin' thing off.

there is NO WAY anyone needs updates that frequently.

Esp when most were about the upcoming baseball series next week, etc.

[phoenix]

@erguncaner is now on Twitter.

[HenryGale]

Does anybody know how to get Twitter around a blocked system? I tried tweetdeck, but it did not work as well...

[flames1971]

Does anybody know how to get Twitter around a blocked system? I tried tweetdeck, but it did not work as well...

Unblock your system!!!

Just kidding- I got no idea!

[phoenix]

When I posted about Dr. Caner, he was following 6 people and had 2 followers. Right now he's following 39 and is up to 268 followers.

[Sly Fox]

He's the kind of guy you can see really getting this.

[flamesbball84]

so my department is adding this nonsense. im going to create my own personal account so i can figure out what the point of this nonsense is before we start using it for official purposes.

update: started following one person (it checked through my gmail contacts) and one website. still dont get why people use this...

if i set it up to send tweets with my mobile device, will it automatically start texting me all the updates from people i follow?

[flamesfilmguy]

yes

[flamesbball84]

yes

could i still send updates via the phone without receiving updates?

[sweetnahmah1]

yup

[NG33]

I was convinced by friends to get one. I'm not getting why I need to get one but I guarantee by next week I will be addicted lol

[ALUmnus]

It is addictive, and popular, but on the other hand:

http://mashable.com/2009/04/28/twitter-quitters/

We’re hearing some pretty amazing statistics about Twitter() these days: growth from February 2008 to February 2009 was reportedly 1382%, with the incline increasing yet further in recent months.

But like many social networks, it seems many people lose steam with the service. Stat tracking firm Nielsen reports today that a full 60% of users who sign up fail to return the following month. And in the 12 months “pre-Oprah”, retention rates were even lower: only 30% returned the next month. That’s good news, to some degree: retention rates have increased over time.




But how does Twitter’s retention rate compare to Facebook() and MySpace() in the early days? Not well, says Nielsen:

Compare it to the two heavily-touted behemoths of social networking when they were just starting out…we found that even when Facebook and MySpace were emerging networks like Twitter is now, their retention rates were twice as high. When they went through their explosive growth phases, that retention only went up, and both sit at nearly 70 percent today.

The question is, how can Twitter make sure that users stick around for the long haul? What is it about Facebook and MySpace that make them so appealing? Could it be, possibly, that finding friends on Twitter remains harder than doing so on other social networks?

UPDATE: As discussed in the comments, Nielsen is only able to measure return visits to Twitter.com: how many people set up a desktop application like TweetDeck() and continue to Tweet, but never return to Twitter.com?

[HenryGale]

Is there a way to make only select people's tweets come to my phone and not others? I would like to get texts from certain people, but not everybody....is this possible?

[flamesfilmguy]

yes you select who sends you updates and who recieves yours

[SuperJon]

Yes, you can control if you want device updates for each individual person. Have to do it manually though.

[flamesbball84]

that retention rate study isn't surprising in the least bit.

[SuperJon]

For people who are just using Twitter to use Twitter, it's not that big of a deal. The only thing really to do is keep up with things you're interested in (sports teams, churches, etc).

For people who are looking to Network, it can be a big deal and really positive.

[El Scorcho]

UPDATE: As discussed in the comments, Nielsen is only able to measure return visits to Twitter.com: how many people set up a desktop application like TweetDeck() and continue to Tweet, but never return to Twitter.com?

That's the key statement in the study that most people are overlooking. I never ever use the website. I use third party twitter apps on both my computer and my phone. By Nielsen's tracking method, I am no longer using twitter.

Lame and busted.

[phoenix]

UPDATE: As discussed in the comments, Nielsen is only able to measure return visits to Twitter.com: how many people set up a desktop application like TweetDeck() and continue to Tweet, but never return to Twitter.com?

That's the key statement in the study that most people are overlooking. I never ever use the website. I use third party twitter apps on both my computer and my phone. By Nielsen's tracking method, I am no longer using twitter.

Lame and busted.

Great point. People that really get into Twitter end up using a client. By Nielsen's rankings, I'm not a Twitter user either.

Of course, Nielsen needs to seriously review their methodology. If they don't, they may be irrelevent in a few years.

[LUconn]

Chris Hardwick had a great quote in an interview with lifehacker that sums up my use of it:

Twitter is a guy you can always elbow in the side and say, "Hey, look, a guy in a clown suit just threw up!" And I don't have 400-800 words to say about that, I just wanted to say that one thing.

[Covert Hawk]

Well, I have one, too.

CovertHawk is the name if you want to find me

[flamesbball84]

cont me in as one of the ones who won't be using it after a month. make that after two days, actually, lol. i started following a couple people I know, John Calipari, and a couple websites, just don't get why people like it so much.