Twitter growth slows while usage expands globally, report says
According to the report, the Twitter new user growth rate dropped from 13 percent in March 2009 to just 3.5 percent as of October 2009. It also appears that site traffic has suffered a decline, however that could be attributed to the growing number of business-focused third-party Twitter clients currently available.
On the flipside, the report states that Twitter users are more engaged than ever before.
In the seven months since we last examined the State of the Twittersphere, the average Twitter account holder has become less of a newbie. The average user is following more people, followed by more people and has posted more updates.
The report showed that the average account is now following roughly 175 people versus 45 people in July 2009; those same accounts now have about 300 followers versus only about 15 percent of that in July; and these same accounts have an average of 400+ updates now versus just over 100 in July. The report surmises that this is due to more experienced users now making up more of the Twitter population. Interestingly, 82 percent of users have less than 100 followers and 81 percent of users are following less than 100 people.
One of the more compelling pieces of the report is the geographical analysis. In July 2009, 15 percent of the top 20 Twitter locations were within North America. Now, 40 percent of the top 20 Twitter locations are outside of North America. The top rated locations outside of North America now include London, Brazil, UK, Germany, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and India.
Download the full January 2010 State of the Twittersphere report here. Older State of the Twittersphere reports from July 2009 and December 2008 are also available for download.
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