For one of the oldest social media networks, Twitter remains a polarizing figure. Many people and businesses avoid Twitter due to the low character limit for each post, while others find it to be the most engaging factor. Some tech commentators have suggested that Twitter is only a step away from the beginning of its decline. To them, all the news about the IPO, new partnerships and platform changes are like a dying star that flares up right before going nova. However, the numbers tell a different story. Twitter is burning bright because the platform is getting bigger, stronger, and has plenty of fuel to burn. Here are ten stats that show Twitter’s star is burning bright… for all the right reasons.
According to ShareThis, sharing via Twitter increased by 43 percent during the first quarter of 2014, compared to 25 percent increase for Reddit and a 14 percent for Facebook.
According to Twitter’s financial statements, Twitter’s average cost per ad engagement decreased 18 percent quarter-over-quarter during the final quarter of 2013 worldwide as the number of ad engagements increased 74 percent during the same period. This shows that people are becoming more accustomed to clicking on ads on Twitter.
The same financials reported that Twitter’s active user base increased worldwide 30 percent from the end of the 2012 to the end of 2013: 54.1 millions users in the U.S. and 186.8 million internationally. This equates to increases of 21 percent and 33 pecent, respectively.
In terms of marketshare, Pew Research Center reported that 18 percent of US online adults used Twitter in 2013, up from 16 percent in 2012.
Data from ShareThis shows why Twitter should be a part of a social media marketing strategy. Facebook and Twitter account for 75 percent of online content sharing in the US. So if you could only pick two networks, Twitter should be one of them.
Twitter is still a very active platform. DOMO calculated 100,000 tweets are sent each minute and according to Nielsen, approximately one million U.S. Twitter users post everyday.
According to Shareholic, people referred by links on Twitter spend an average of 123.1 minutes on sites, view 2.15 pages per visit, and have a bounce rate of 56.35 percent. Based on these ratings, Twitter outperforms Facebook and Pinterest.
Twitter is also a useful platform for reaching minorities. Pew Research Center noted 40 percent of African American internet users aged 18-29 use Twitter, compared to 28 percent for Caucasians of the same age.
Similarly, BIA/Kelsey reported that 11.1 percent of Hispanic consumers use Twitter for local shopping, compared to 6.7 percent of non-Hispanics.
For marketers trying to promote content on television, Twitter is necessary part of the strategy. According to data provided by Twitter, 90 percent of Twitter users active during primetime TV who have seen tweets about specific shows have watched, searched for, or shared content about those show. They also found that 61 percent of Twitter users active during primetime TV enjoy tweets from actors on TV shows and 35 percent enjoy tweets from official show accounts.
As this data shows, Twitter is a valuable tool for marketers who wish to reach customers through all available channels. The special way consumers use Twitter (as a public network that everyone can see, in opposed to Facebook’s permission-based system) and the accompanying value to marketers will keep the platform relevant for years to come. Twitter’s star is burning bright because more and more people are beginning to see that value and have started using the platform. And the recent changes have made it that much more attractive to those who have stayed on the sidelines in the past. In six months, when the new changes have had time to take hold, we’ll return to Twitter stats to see what the results are.