The media is all atwitter about Twitter right now; especially with the role Twitter is playing in getting the word out about the Iranian protests. 

Despite its "hot" status with the media, a recent posting from the ReadWriteWeb blog suggests that far fewer people are actually using and contributing to the site than Twitter's recent hype and massive growth would suggest.  In his blog, Doug Coleman cited a study by Web security SaaS company Purewire that revealed that many Twitter users "have abandoned their accounts shortly after creating them, and a significant percentage are not showing signs of account activity". 

I recently asked the members of my proprietary HomeTrend Influentials Panel who have signed up for Twitter - as of early May, 30% of the HIPsters had Twitter profiles (compared to 5% of Americans) -- if they are using it regularly or are part of the approximately 40 percent of Twitter users who have not tweeted since their first day on Twitter.

About half of the HIPsters who have signed up for Twitter are not regularly users.  They don't "get" it.  Here are a couple of their comments:

"I am one of those non-twitters. I don't really get it. I signed up and played around with it for a little while, but it seems limited in usage. I much prefer Facebook and use it regularly." 

 "Twittered once and haven't gone back. Don't know why I should. And have hard enough time keeping up with Facebook, Linked in, Plaxo, etc - which all take up more time than is worth."

"I joined Twitter and tweeted once. I'm a little freaked out because I started getting notices that people I don't know are following me.  I was following Chelsey Handler because I think she's hilarious. But her tweets always led me to a mini-url and it was too much effort to log into it from my iPhone.  I think if I got into Twitter (i.e., maybe spent some time with it and had someone give me some pointers), I'd like it more. My friends don't tweet much...and if they do, they link it to their Facebook, so I just read it there."

To me, while the statistics from the Purewire study about the number of people who have abandoned Twitter after signing up are interesting, the more important finding from the study is about how people are using Twitter.  According to the PureWire study, "Twitter is used more as a mass medium for receiving information, rather than as a way to interact with others". 

That is certainly true for me.  In my first week or so of being a Twitter user, I have stumbled upon some marketing experts whom I now follow so I can stay abreast of what's happening in marketing and PR, and especially in social media marketing.  It's like having a customized clipping service that alerts me to news about marketing.   It saves me time because I don't have to go searching for the latest news about marketing, PR, and social media.  The news comes to me from the tweets of reputable people in the industry.

The HIPsters who are big Twitter fans, however, do not use it just for receiving information.  They definitely use it to interact with others as well. Here are comments from two of the HIPsters who are frequent Twitter users: 

"I use Twitter to keep up with my friends, family, bands, organizations, celebrities, etc. I know what's going on in their lives or where they're at.  Plus, since I work in radio, the station has [a Twitter account] (that I keep up) and we follow our bands and listeners and interact with them that way. You can communicate one on one with people or just "listen" to what's going on. Or with the bands, we have instant updates on what they're doing (oh, so and so is stuck on the side of the road right now because of a flat tire - that kind of stuff). Also, most news stations (TV and radio) are on there and breaking news comes across faster on Twitter than it does on the actual mediums themselves (TV and radio)... so it's great for news and info too.  It's just a lot of fun if you put some effort into it. It is overwhelming at first (especially now that it's blown up in popularity), but once you get the hang of it and start interacting with it, it really is great! I tweet when something funny happens, or when I just have something to say random, or when I'm doing something I want other people to know about, etc. It is what you make of it really."

"I am on Twitter constantly. Especially with the Iran elections trend. I am addicted. Plus there are several other ways of getting actual ground breaking news from the people who make them.  I have Lisa Ling on my follow so I can keep up with what's happening in North Korea, following various broadcasters that I enjoy, celebrities that are interesting, my friends, family and companies and products that I love. I love that there are coupons and discount codes to people who follow a certain product, etc. I talked to Wyclef on the phone about his album due to Twitter. He had a call out to those people who were following him and text his number and if you were the X person he would call back, I was one of the lucky X and got to talk about his grassroots launching of his record, what he wants to do etc. I would never have had that opportunity without Twitter."

As a marketer, you should definitely keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening with Twitter.  The best places to start are with "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live" by Time magazine reporter Steven Johnson and "Twitter on the Barricades: Six Lessons Learned" by New York Times reporter Noam Cohen.  You should also sign up for Twitter yourself to get a sense of what it is all about, even if all you do is follow the major news media to stay abreast of breaking news. 

Should you use Twitter professionally?  That is a question I'll address in a future issue of HomeTrend Forecast.