Oprah Winfrey may have helped boosting Twitter's popularity. But the new research from Nielsen suggests that although new users are signing up in large numbers everyday but fewer of them are continuing to tweet.
The media hype surrounding Twitter continues to grow as more celebrities sign on, more news outlets sign up and more average Joes follow their favorite stars and shows. But Twitter is having difficulties in making sure these groups of new users return to tweet.
According to Nielsen Online, more than 60% of Twitter users failed to return the following month. Twitter's audience retention rate - the percentage of a given month's users who come back the following month - is about 40%. Before Oprah Winfrey joined twitter, it managed a below 30% retention.
A high retention rate doesn't guarantee a massive audience, but it is essential for sustained growth. After a certain point, there won't be enough new users to make up for the ones who are leaving.
When we compare Twitter to MySpace and Facebook. They also had similar problems in the begining, but their retention rates were twice as high than Twitter's. When MySpace and Facebook went through their explosive growth phases, their retention rates went up and now both have nearly 70% retention rate.
Analysts say Twitter has a low retention rate because lots of people are hearing about it and trying the micro-blogging site but not finding any real value there. But they predict over time, Twitter usage will continue to grow and new people will start to find it more valuable as an information resource and communication tool. That will definitely improve the retention.
But if the new users' quitting tendency persists over the next 12 months, Twitter will have to seriously address the issue.
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