I agree it's good the big media folks are paying a...

2009-05-03T20:50:00.000-05:00

I agree it's good the big media folks are paying attention and creating discussion.

I also agree about the negative comments from these media venues and some media bullies. What does it help to throw rocks at a young, emerging company. Sure they have not figured out the magic path to profits yet, but they have created something pretty cool that likely has a bright future. I'm sure they are hard at work on lots of growth, profits, value props.

Start ups are not like global brands with 1000's of teams to be perfect before you are three years old.

Like my thinking about eating out, everyone needs to a waiter or in food service first, before you pan the place.

Same applies, a reporter or media authority needs to have lived through a tech start up
before they only fling negative stories, and predict failure.

I think (it seems like you) that nielsen was makin...

2009-05-01T23:43:00.000-05:00

I think (it seems like you) that nielsen was making a nice, provocative statement with their press release. While I disagree with what they imply (twitter doesn't offer much value for most...thus the "low" retention rate...) I do appreciate the discussion it has sparked.

I believe a more telling analysis would be to look at a detailed cohort analysis. Who joined, when, and what happened over time. Did they register, did they tweet, how often, how did the "following" stream evolve, and what drove all this.

Using a sample size of one (me...and I know I'm not a good proxy, so realize the dangers) it took me a couple of months to kind of figure twitter out or to be committed enough to give it a real "go." Many friends were in the same bucket. If you looked at my month over month retention (per nielsen), I would have likely been in the 60% of people who didn't come back the next month.

But...I came back in month 3 (not even 2) gave it another try, and now am hooked - I found my "purpose" on twitter and rapidly moved to tweetdeck, etc.

ultimately time will tell, but I am a strong believer in a simple to use, straightforward product that, in my case, is much better than an RSS reader. I follow those that interest me and get their thoughts and "pointers" real time (to their blogs, other articles, etc.). I see tons of potential in the future for how twitter can direct people to find/discover new information, people, and even things to buy. (admittedly, I feel like twitter is more of a broadcast than a "conversation" medium...but that could also be a reflection of how I use it)

I see some interesting ways, too, that site owners can take the best of twitter and apply it to their own products and help people find relevant information.

thanks for the post. good (& evolving) discussion.

Comments on Experience: The Blog: Nielsen, Twitter Quitters, and Why it Doesn't Matt...

I agree it's good the big media folks are paying a...

I think (it seems like you) that nielsen was makin...