Will twitter die? Is twitter dying? What do you think?
Who is really using Twitter today?
When Twitter started, I seriously thought it would never catch on, ( but I also thought DVD players would not replace VHS, so I definitely can miss the boat big time.)
Now wherever you go, any conference, any “Internet Marketing” type of gathering, you are told to use twitter and other “social media”.
I even signed up and have been using Tweetdeck, since Tee Morris taught a class with me at the San Francisco Writers Conference on Social Media. (Update: Tweetdeck was absorbed by Twitter and they run a different program and interface with it now). Another tool that many people use that is a paid option is Hootsuite, they do offer a limited free program as well.
Part of my philosophy about working online is to try to minimize distractions and stay the course on what you are trying to accomplish.
So it was with great interest that I read this article about why the creator of Twitter, Biz Stone has left the company.
Why Biz Stone really left Twitter. By FastCompany-2011
A few items jumped out at me.
The majority of Twitter users, some 190 million as of a year ago, are largely disengaged, tuning in during earthquakes, elections, and scandals. At the end of March of this year, Business Insider reported that:
- There were 119 million Twitter accounts following one or more other accounts.
- There were 85 million accounts with one or more followers.
- Thus, a little subtraction shows us that there are 56 million Twitter accounts following zero other accounts, and 90 million Twitter accounts with zero followers.
“With all the noise on Twitter, the conversations vanished. The vast majority of Twitter accounts are not very active. The ones that are, are largely self-serving.”
This has been my experience with my clients and people I know. What do you think the future looks like for twitter?
Are you an active user? Do you enjoy using twitter? Do you wish twitter would just die and go away?
What are the real numbers for twitter?
Twitter Stats
Twitter Advertising Stats
Twitter User Stats
Twitter Mobile Stats
Click here to learn more about who is really using twitter and how.
Leave me a comment and lets discuss this topic!
Update: Week of April 27, 2015- Twitter Stock plunged when a tweet up for 45 seconds revealed bad news for investors. The tweet was scraped from Twitters own website, where they were planning to bury it in a hard to find press release on their own website, but a program that scrapes websites and delivers financial information to investors found it and tweeted it! It was only up for 45 seconds and has done some serious damage.
What a story. Done in by their own website and a tweet!
Read one man’s opinion of Twitter and what is happening to them now, here.
2016 Update: Will Twitter every rebound and be successfully financially?
From personal experience I can say I doubt it. I bought 120 shares at 44. almost 3 years ago. Today the stock was around 16.00 and it has gone lower. OUCH! One rule of buying stock, is buy stock in companies you know and you like. I have never liked Twitter. I hate hash tags and the retweeting. Which is apparently making us stupid too!
Why resharing on social media could be making you more stupid.
Back to Twitter and it’s long term viability as a company. From a laymans view, or Joe Smoe on the street, which is me, it does not seem like it. No one has expressed any interest in buying it. It has never made a profit and it is losing users by the bucketful and not gaining new users. The turnover in leadership is a real problem.
The company still isn’t profitable 10 years on
When Twitter went public back in 2013, it was an unprofitable company. More than two years later, that hasn’t changed. In fact, the company revealed in its annual 10-K filed Feb. 29 that it has lost more than $2 billion in total since launching a decade ago.
Twitter had already accrued more than $400 million in losses before going public, but that figure exploded upward after its IPO, largely due to stock-based compensation awarded to employees. The company lost $520 million in 2015 alone.
Like many companies, though, Twitter prefers to talk about adjusted earnings, which exclude stock-based compensation and some other expenses. These are the figures Wall Street investors tend to focus on. By that measure, Twitter had a net income of $277 million in 2015.
But anxiety over Twitter today has less to do with whether or not the company can earn money now and more to do with its prospects in the future. Wall Street appears skeptical that Twitter can effectively grow its user base, serve those users more ads and substantially increase its revenue. The company’s stock sunk below $20 per share at the start of the year, off from a high around $70, and has yet to recover.
Twitter is well aware of its own troubles. Yet is still is going downhill. My hope is someone eventually buys it and makes it profitable and a better company. What do you think?