Twitter generated steady growth in tweet activity in the four months ended March 25, 2010, especially among consumers outside the US, while maintaining strong retention and stickiness among its new and veteran users, according to a study from Sysomos.
Over the past four months, the number of tweets sent per day increased 30%, to an estimated 53 million tweets per day in late March, from 40 million per day in early December.
Month over month, the level of tweets sent per day increased 22.7% in January, 13% in February, and 14.6% in March.
Below, other findings from the Sysomos study, which examined Twitter's growth and retention patterns.
Non-US Twitter Growth Higher
Twitter is growing faster outside the US: As of January 10, the number of tweets sent from outside the US increased 13% from levels recorded a month earlier, compared with tweets sent from within US, up 10% during the same period.
(Note: The overall growth levels presented in the first trend chart are higher than those reported on the above US/non-US chart since they include Twitter users who did not disclose their location.)
In February, month-over-month growth of non-US-based tweets was over twice the level of US-based tweets (9% vs. 4%); that trend continued in March (8% vs. 5%).
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Twitter Retains New and Veteran Users
Measured by contribution levels of tweets, new Twitter users are establishing a solid and consistent presence on Twitter early on, while veteran users are becoming more active over time:
Newbies (those who have been using Twitter fewer than three months) accounted for an estimated 22% of total tweets in each of the past four months.
Meanwhile, Veterans (those who have been using Twitter more than nine months) increased their Twitter activity by 15.6 percentage points over the periods, to 41.6% of total tweets in March, from 26% in December.
About the data: Conducted by Sysomos, the findings are based on an analysis of over one billion tweets from December 1, 2009 to March 25, 2010. Data from March 26 to 31 (numbers of tweets) are estimates from Sysomos.
