Tweet and run: Twitter users flee site after first month

by Gareth Jones, revolutionmagazine.com 29-Apr-09, 10:31

More than 60 per cent of Twitter users stop using the microblogging service after the first month, according to new figures from Nielsen Online.

The study shows that Twitter continues to grow at an astonishing rate, with usage growing by more than 100 per cent since March. However, the microblogging service appears to be having trouble convincing users to stick around.

According to Nielsen, Twitter currently has a retention rate of just 40 per cent, indicating that consumers are yet to properly get to grips with 'tweeting'.

'People are signing up in their droves,' writes David Martin, vice president of primary research at Nielson Online in a blog post. '

But despite the hockey stick growth chart, Twitter faces an uphill battle in making sure these flocks of new users are enticed to return to the nest.'

The figures show that Twitter's retention rate is about half that of rival social networks Facebook and MySpace during their first three years of existence.

Despite its low retention rate Twitter continues to see its user base expand rapidly, accounting for more UK internet traffic than MSN UK Search in April, according to Hitwise.